The EU ‘Competitiveness’ Council, meeting on Thursday 2 March in Brussels, reached a political agreement (‘general approach’) on the proposed directive of May 2022 that will update EU legislation on the marketing of financial services contracts concluded at a distance (directive 2002/65/EC, which will be repealed) to adapt it to the increasing digitalisation of the market.
The objective is twofold: - strengthening consumer protection and their rights to clear pre-contractual information about what they buy online (amendment of Directive 2011/83/EU); - create a level playing field for the cross-border provision of financial services in the single market.
The EU Council’s position was not debated, as it was already widely supported by Member States (see EUROPE 13131/8, 13130/10). It paves the way for negotiations with the European Parliament.
On behalf of the Swedish Presidency, Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch welcomed a “balanced, fair, but delicate” compromise and noted the statements tabled by Luxembourg and Italy (see EUROPE 13130/10).
In essence, the EU Council opts for minimum harmonisation, leaving the possibility for Member States to adopt stricter measures on pre-contractual information.
The Commission’s proposal aims to facilitate the exercise of the consumer’s right of withdrawal through the inclusion of a button (or similar function) stating ‘withdraw from contract here’ (or a corresponding formulation) in the financial service provider’s interface.
The EU Council wants to include this provision in the general chapter of the Consumer Rights Directive so that it applies to all contracts concluded at a distance and not only to financial services.
The consumer shall have a period of 14 calendar days to withdraw from the contract without penalty, 30 calendar days in the case of personal pension operations. To align this provision with the Directive on Consumer Credits - currently under negotiation (see EUROPE 13114/20) - the general approach proposes limiting this right of withdrawal to 12 months and 14 days in the event that the consumer has not been informed about his or her right of withdrawal.
The Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, speaking on behalf of Didier Reynders (in Moldova), said that the Commission was reserving its position until the European Parliament had taken a decision. “The text is balanced and goes in the right direction. It preserves the essential elements of the original proposal”, in particular the pre-contractual information and the right of withdrawal, he nevertheless judged.
“As some Member States consider that the interaction between this directive and product-specific legislation is not yet sufficiently clarified”, he expressed the Commission’s readiness to provide further clarifications in bilateral meetings and to organise expert meetings during the transposition period.
The vote on the ‘Kokalari’ report in the parliamentary committee is scheduled for the end of March (see EUROPE 13132/11).
The EU Council’s position: https://aeur.eu/f/5lu and the corrigendum: https://aeur.eu/f/5lt
The two annexed statements: https://aeur.eu/f/5m0 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)