Brussels, 11/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - In preparation for Consumer Day on 15 March, a new survey of consumer attitudes published by the European Commission shows that a lack of confidence in their protection across Europe means consumers are still losing out on the full benefits of the internal market. The survey also confirms the vital role of consumer associations, which are a popular source of information and are seen by consumers as the best means of protecting their rights.
The survey shows that consumers are less confident about shopping across border than in their own Member State - across the EU only 31% of consumers think they are well protected when they shop cross-border, against 56% who fell well protected in their own country. European Consumer Commissioner David Byrne said this "shows that we must do more to provide consumers with a high standard of protection throughout the EU". Almost half of all consumers (48%) cited consumer organisations as one of their favourite sources of information on consumer issues. When there are problems, consumers put their trust more in consumer associations - 72% consider consumer associations an effective means of defending their interests, against only 40% who feel the same about their national authorities. Reacting to these results, David Byrne said "the proper involvement of consumer organisations in EU policies is … one of the main objectives of our new EU Consumer Action plan which I intend to present soon". The survey revealed wide differences between countries. Consumers in the north of Europe are more confident that their rights are protected than in the south. 82% of Finnish and 75% of British consumers consider their rights well protected, compared with only 21% of Greek and Portuguese consumers. Indeed, consumers in Greece, Italy and Portugal were more confident that their rights would be better protected in another Member State that in their own country.