Work is progressing in EU Council bodies on the new Consumer Agenda 2021–2025 for the post-Covid-19 world. On Friday 15 January, the ‘Consumer’ working group carried out a preliminary exchange of views on draft conclusions welcoming this programme and its two main priorities – the green transition and digital transition (see EUROPE 12629/10, 12617/11).
“The atmosphere was very positive. The Presidency is in the process of collating written comments for the new version”, a diplomatic source told EUROPE on Monday 18 January.
The first draft, as seen by EUROPE, supports actions intended to define and establish measures to reconcile a high level of effective consumer protection and consumer empowerment as part of the transition to a greener, more digital and fairer single market.
Stressing the lessons that have been learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for continued cooperation between the European Commission and Member States, it encourages the development of national consumer policy strategies in close cooperation between the EU-27 and the Commission.
The text emphasises the need to take into account consumer interests as part of the design and implementation of sectoral policies, in particular regarding the following sectors: health, food and consumer goods, energy, transport, telecommunications, data and digital, and financial.
It encourages Member States to promote more sustainable consumption, particularly through innovative solutions and educating consumers on green and sustainable products.
It supports the need to empower consumers through targeted, clear, comparable and reliable information regarding the environmental characteristics of goods and services.
The text strongly supports the adoption of new measures that will boost consumer preference for sustainable goods, including food, by improving their right to access accurate and effective information and by banning misleading environmental claims and money laundering.
It also emphasises the need to reduce consumer ecological footprints by promoting a long product life, fostering sustainability, and prohibiting planned early obsolescence. In this regard, it welcomes the prospect of establishing a ‘right to repair’ at a reasonable cost.
The text also stresses the need to ensure a reliable and secure digital environment for consumers including adequate tools, to enable innovation to provide better and innovative goods and services for everyone, and to ensure a comparable level of protection both online and offline.
It supports the revision of the General Product Safety Directive, with a view to creating a level playing field for online and offline product safety through improved recall and traceability systems.
It also supports a clear interaction between the law on digital services, and the law on digital markets. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)