The ministers responsible for consumer affairs of the EU-27, meeting on Friday 24 September in Brdo pri Kranju (Slovenia), had an informal but “fruitful” exploratory exchange on ways to strengthen consumer protection and rights in the EU in the digital age, which has revolutionised shopping, and in tourism, where they have borne the brunt of the Covid-19 crisis (see EUROPE 12795/10).
The European Commission’s proposals to adapt EU legislation on consumer credit and general product safety to digitalisation have been generally welcomed.
A post-Covid-19 economic recovery based on digital technology is a priority of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency, said Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Počivalšek after the meeting. It is also a priority of the EU’s 2021-2025 Consumer Agenda.
Data from the European Commission’s 2020 Consumer Survey shows that on average in the EU, 71% of consumers have shopped online. According to the European Commission, there are already more than 10,000 online suppliers in the EU, more than 90% of which are SMEs. And the Covid-19 crisis has further accelerated digitalisation.
Consumer credit. “The digitalisation of consumer credit, which has seen the emergence of new providers and new ways of giving credit, contributes to the cross-border market, but requires safeguards to avoid risks to consumers”, stressed the EU Council’s President-in-Office. He stressed the importance of “creating an internal market for consumer credit allowing for the free movement of services and consumer protection”.
In June, the European Commission proposed a revision of the 2008 consumer credit directive to adapt the legislation to the digital age, ensure better protection for consumers made vulnerable by the crisis, and guarantee harmonised conditions for credit companies.
The President of the EU Council reported a consensus among Member States on the need to “update the Directive to ensure a high level of consumer protection while allowing businesses to be innovative”.
In 21 Member States, one in ten consumers is in financial difficulties, said Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, pointing out that the most vulnerable consumers are at risk of over-indebtedness and that they need to be given the right information about the credit they can take out with a click on their smartphone.
Product safety. Regarding the EU regulation proposed in June to replace the 2001 General Product Safety Directive (see EUROPE 12752/2), Počivalšek reported a consensus to “strengthen and harmonise market surveillance”, with ministers saying that the new Security Gate (formerly RAPEX) will allow for better management of alerts on dangerous products.
“There are more and more sales online. So it is very important to protect the consumer, in good relation with the platforms, and there is of course a link with the Digital Service Act”, underlined Didier Reynders. The Commissioner said that parallel progress on both pieces of legislation was needed.
Tourism/travel. The difficulties consumers are facing in getting reimbursements from tourism companies and tour operators during the pandemic were again mentioned (see EUROPE 12751/10, 12751/11).
“The travel agencies presented their solutions to us. We want to continue to work to improve the legislation that has not foreseen this type of crisis”, said the President of the EU Council.
In this context, the ministers are not opposed to the idea of a future revision of Directive (EU) 2015/2302 on package travel and related travel services, after the European Commission has carried out an in-depth evaluation of this directive by 2022 (see EUROPE 12668/31). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)