On Monday 12 March, the European ministers for industry were informed of the outlines of the proposed revision of the European legislation on consumer protection – the 'New Deal for Consumers' to be tabled by the Commission on 11 April, the Commissioner for Justice and Consumers, Vera Jourova, announced at the Competitiveness Council.
During talks over lunch, the ministers of the Central and Eastern European countries again called for an end to the double standards practised in the quality of food products or other items in the single market (see EUROPE 11870), insisting on receiving reassurances over this before the revision of the European legislation is presented.
Jourova said that the 'New Deal for Consumers' will aim primarily to reinforce and modernise the European law on consumers' rights in the digital age, ensure that European law is properly enforced, tighten up and improve the level of harmonisation of sanctions or infringements of EU legislation and increase the possibilities for European citizens to bring class actions through organisations representing them, “either before extra-judiciary dispute settlement bodies, or in court”, when they are deliberately let down by big business, such as Volkswagen in the dieselgate case, or by major online shopping platforms (see EUROPE 11917).
The Commission will not propose that an American-style class action system be set in place at EU level, but will propose a reinforcement of the directive (98/27/EC) on injunctions in the field of protecting the interests of consumers (see EUROPE 11948), she told ministers. She told the press the same, when presenting the 2018 report on the early warning RAPEX system for dangerous non-food products (see EUROPE 11979). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)