Brussels, 29/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - On the morning of Monday 29 May, the Competitiveness Council held its first debate on the Commission's amended proposal on consumer credit law, presented in October 2005. The Austrian Presidency, according to a Community source, said that most delegations support “the principle of maximum harmonisation” in this area. Germany is most strongly opposed to this principle, fearing its national legislation would be weakened, the source indicated. The United Kingdom has no fundamental opposition but considers maximum harmonisation not to be applicable to all parts of the legislative proposal, explained a Commission expert.
One of the main concerns is over the level of protection for consumers. The principle of harmonisation would make it more difficult to determine what was an “acceptable level” of protection in the general view of the delegations, said the Community source. In some countries, the consumer had, for example, to pay compensation to the financial establishment in the event of early repayment of a loan. Sweden and Latvia expressed that too much harmonisation would require the introduction of such an arrangement, which they rejected on the grounds of consumer protection.
The dossier passes to the forthcoming Finnish Presidency which has indicated it intends to make it one of its priorities. Finland has said it will schedule about ten meetings at Council working group level with a view to reaching a political agreement in December.