Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-06-Speech-4-035"
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"Madam President, I would add my words of congratulations to the rapporteur for her work.
We are talking about better law-making. What we are really trying to do is give consumers confidence that, no matter where they shop, they will have the same rights. But we are not doing so well, because half of all our citizens are cautious about shopping across borders because they do not believe that they are going to be protected – and that is not surprising. I think it is easier to shop locally, and people are more comfortable with the local. But when you look at retailers, half of them want to do cross-border trading – and, in fact, 29% do so. Retailers believe that if there was better law in this area, consumers would do more shopping across borders.
Truthfully, consumers do not care if we have eight or twenty directives. In fact they do not even want to know about what is going on behind the scenes. They just want to feel comfortable and to know that there is simplicity in the law. And in case mothers-in-law were offended by Mr Stubb’s test, I think that if he read that paragraph to Members of this House, considering terms like ‘horizontal instruments’, ‘tools’, ‘cross-cutting’ etc., there would be very few who would clearly understand it either.
The real problem, as is pointed out in the report, is that there is fragmentation and uneven transposition of European law. I recently chaired a committee of inquiry into Equitable Life and we saw very clearly the problems of uneven transposition in the financial services area and the need for the Commission to improve its oversight. We made recommendations in that regard.
The truth is that the gap between what we agree here and what happens in Member States is too great. I want to see electronic commerce included in the scope of the review and other issues like distance marketing of financial services, consumer credit and unfair commercial practices.
Paragraph 49 is important and it recognises the need for ongoing consumer education. I think the network of consumer centres have a role to play here because two thirds of consumers say that they do not know where to get information and advice on cross-border shopping. That is simply too many people.
The issue of redress and collective and class actions; I accept what is being said by Ms Wallis in this regard and I take on board as well her knowledge and wisdom in terms of law.
I want to mention two or three specific issues. European City Guide is a problem which is repeatedly coming up on my desk and your desk and yet nobody does anything. Unless we do something, consumers think all we do is talk about it and ignore the problem and you really need to take this on board. If the Member States are failing, get on to their case and make them take action.
In relation to toys and unsafe products; Mrs McCarthy has alluded to that. People believe that when they buy products in the European market, they are safe. In relation to Brazilian beef we have concerns about that too. So, there is, in this House, a gap between what we say and what we do, but this report is a very good first step in terms of improving consumer protection."@en1
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