Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-10-Speech-1-162"
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"en.20071210.20.1-162"2
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"Mr President, as the Commissioner is aware, we have had several discussions around the general problem of the safety of services. I very much welcome the Commissioner’s willingness to look seriously at how we can improve the situation for consumers.
I believe there is a serious consumer-protection gap on the provision of services. If a consumer travelling on business or on holiday in the EU books a hotel, can he or she be sure that safety measures are in place to prevent fire or the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning or, indeed, whether the swimming pool is safe for children to swim in?
Yet, as we have seen with toys and products, we are prepared to protect our consumers. When they are accessing or purchasing a service in the internal market, consumer protection does not seem to be there in the same way.
Yet many consumers assume that, when they stay in a hotel, there are adequate and very basic safety standards there. And, of course, as we have seen, they are inadequate.
I do not believe it is rocket science to install fire sprinklers or carbon monoxide detectors. I think fires and deaths are preventable if the right standards and systems are in place.
Frankly, I think it is too late – and not good enough – to revoke a licence after children have died, when in fact they should never have had the licence in the first place.
We want to help the Commissioner take action to drive up standards, to cut fire risks and deaths and protect the consumer, so yes, let us think about how we can best achieve this. Mr Harbour’s proposal around an EU rating system is certainly something we may want to look at, but that is something, I believe, that the consumer needs to have easy access to, and I believe the tour operators’ hotel systems should actually put that out for the consumer, so I can then decide I do not wish to go to the hotel or the villa that does not have a safe swimming pool, does not have fire sprinklers or does not have carbon monoxide detectors.
I believe we can do better for our citizens: we can prevent deaths. I think tonight we have launched the debate, but I do believe – and I think it can be seen from the interventions – that it is the beginning of a campaign for safer services, for the very basic minimum standards to be protected, and I hope that we can make further progress in this area in the not too distant future."@en1
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