Strasbourg, 06/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has backed the European Commission in its aim of creating a real internal consumer market by simplifying and improving the regulatory framework for professionals and individuals. In Strasbourg on 6 September, by a wide majority (486 votes for, 77 against, with 15 abstentions), it adopted the report by French Socialist MEP Béatrice Patrie on the Commission's Green Paper on the review of the consumer acquis.
Following the views of the rapporteur, MEPs felt that more coherent and modern Community legislation would increase Europeans' legal security and confidence in the internal market. They felt that three factors justified this: the development of online shopping, which had rendered legislation obsolete, inconsistencies in the Community acquis and “minimal” harmonisation which have led to fragmentation of the legal environment.
The EP recommends that the review of the acquis communautaire should concentrate on updating the eight European directives that relate to consumer protection, including the e-commerce, distance marketing of financial services, consumer credit and unfair commercial practices directives, and making them more consistent. MEPs would like to see a mixed legislative approach - a horizontal legal framework, such as a framework directive, bringing together the issues common to consumer protection, and a vertical approach for specific sectoral matters. They propose that the horizontal instrument should contain a definition of “consumer” and “professional” - an essential clarification since these definitions will determine the scope of consumer law - and what is meant by “unfair conditions”. Parliament wants the European consumer to have the right to withdraw from a purchase carried out online or in door-to-door selling and for the length of time for a consumer to change his/her mind to be harmonised at European level. Specific legal issues will continue to come under sectoral directives which will continue to have minimal harmonisation. Harmonisation must not lead to a lowering of the standards of protection enjoyed by consumers, but ensure a comparable level in all member states, the EP says. There will be national and European information campaigns on European consumer rights, a visible role for European consumers' centres and recourse of legal or extrajudicial procedures will be made easier. MEPs called on the Commission to think about a European procedure for group action, to allow associations to act on behalf of all those who suffered similar loss or damages at the hands of a single professional, Ms Patrie said. (an)