Increased consumer protection—required by the digital environment and the lessons learned from the Covid-19 crisis—will be at the heart of the informal meeting of EU consumer ministers held in Brdo (Slovenia) on Friday, 24 September.
‘Providing and implementing consumer protection in the digital age and in tourism’ is the main subject on which Slovenian Minister for Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek is inviting ministers to exchange views within the context of the EU’s Consumer Agenda for 2021–2025, which notably focuses on the digital transition.
European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders will represent the European Commission.
Consumer protection in the digital age. Ministers will discuss two legislative proposals presented in June by the European Commission to strengthen the protection of consumers and their rights: the new proposal for a directive on consumer credit—which aims to adapt the 2008 directive to the digital age, ensure better protection for consumers who have been weakened by the crisis, and guarantee harmonised conditions for credit companies (see EUROPE 12752/3)—and the proposal for a regulation on general product safety aiming to update the directive, which is also outdated (see EUROPE 12752/2).
Guided by a questionnaire prepared by the Slovenian Presidency, the ministers will be invited to comment on the following issues: how to ensure consumer protection in a constantly changing digital environment; whether the European Commission’s specific proposals on consumer credit and product safety provide the right answers overall so as to ensure a higher level of consumer protection while also taking future challenges into account; which elements of these proposals should be changed or added; and whether digital platforms should guarantee consumer rights in addition to product safety.
Consumer protection in tourism. Given the difficulties consumers have encountered in obtaining reimbursement for their travel expenses from tourism companies and tour operators during the coronavirus pandemic, ministers will consider the opportunity to review the current regulatory framework for package travel and other travel, including insolvency protection.
They will be invited to set out examples of best practices to safeguard consumer rights in the context of tourism or other travel in the internal market that they would like to put forward as a basis for preparing uniform EU measures in this area and to state whether, in their opinion, the Package Travel Directive [Directive (EU) 2015/2302 on package travel and related travel arrangements] needs to be revised and, if so, to what extent. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)