Brussels, 21/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - According to the 2015 edition of the Consumer Scoreboard, published by the European Commission on Monday 21 September, 61% of consumers feel more confident buying online from their own country (61%) than from another EU country.
The 2015 scoreboard highlights consumers' opinions of the way in which the markets operate, based on their own experiences. It mainly focuses on consumer conditions in the digital single market. It highlights consumers' distrust, the continuing lack of knowledge regarding their rights, territorial restrictions and discriminatory prices are still the main barriers to cross-border E-commerce, which, despite its potential, remains underdeveloped in Europe.
Vìra Jourová, commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, said: “One of the priorities of the Juncker Commission is to complete the Digital Single Market and unleash its full potential. This is why we have to lift the remaining barriers to cross-border e-commerce. By the end of the year, the Commission will propose new rules offering better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services across Europe".
The Commission proposal includes harmonised rules for contracts and consumer protection when purchasing online.
The main lessons to be drawn from the 2015 Consumer Scoreboard are as follows: Consumers buying across borders still face many problems, in particular, regarding delivery and product conformity. Moreover, consumers continue to face restrictions and price discrimination due to their country of residence in cross-border transactions. These issues also account for the majority of complaints about cross-border e-commerce received by European Consumer Centres (ECC); further awareness-raising on consumer rights is needed. Consumers' and retailers' awareness of some key consumer rights guaranteed by the EU legislation remains limited. Only 9% of consumers were able to answer correctly when asked about their rights, with the lowest levels of knowledge found among young people; 25% of all consumers encountering problems do not complain. The majority of consumers who did not take any action in case of a problem were discouraged by the perceived difficulties (e.g. low likelihood of success, lack of information, length of procedure). Satisfaction with complaint handling is highest amongst those consumers who complained to Alternative Dispute Bodies (ADR), even though the use and knowledge of these bodies are still relatively low; - Trust in product safety has been relatively stable over the years, with retailers consistently having more positive views than consumers (69% of consumers and 75% of retailers agreed that most non-food products on the market are safe).
The Scoreboard is a regular report that tracks the integration of the EU internal retail market from the consumer perspective and monitors the quality of the national consumer environment. The country reports annexed to this Scoreboard provide detailed consumer statistics for each country. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)