On Monday 22 February, the Council of the EU adopted, without debate, its conclusions on the New Consumer Agenda, presented by the European Commission to strengthen the resilience of consumers to enable a sustainable recovery of the EU economy.
The EU Council endorses the overall vision of this programme for a consumer policy focused on the digital and green transition. It wishes to ensure a high level of consumer protection, to make the consumer a participant in the post-Covid-19 recovery and in particular to protect the most vulnerable consumers (see EUROPE 12655/14).
“We keep the ambition high when it comes to promoting a fair and developed European social market economy”, commented Pedro Siza Vieira, Portuguese Minister of State for the Economy and Digital Transition.
In particular, the EU Council supports the revision of the Consumer Credit Directive and the Directive on Distance Selling of Financial Services by implementing specific measures to prevent consumer disinformation, over-indebtedness and social exclusion.
The EU Council also supports the revision of the General Product Safety Directive with a view to creating a level playing field for online and offline product safety.
The text stresses the importance of establishing a clear framework of responsibility and liability for online platforms. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)