Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-11-14-Speech-1-148-000"
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"en.20111114.19.1-148-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank Parliament, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and, in particular, the rapporteur, Mr Triantaphyllides, and the previous rapporteur, Eva-Britt Svensson for the ‘Report on a New Strategy for Consumer Policy’.
The Consumer Agenda will also need to take into account the emerging challenges facing future consumer policy: the need to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption; to address the specific needs of an ageing population; digitalisation (including e-commerce); and the issue of social inclusion and vulnerable consumers. Again, this is fully in line with your report.
The European Consumer Agenda will also have the explicit ambition to build on the progress already made in realising a European Judicial Area, thus enhancing the role that judges, legal practitioners and enforcement authorities can play, including across borders. To this end, the Consumer Agenda shall be built on partnerships, both in order to pull resources together, in line with the principle of ‘doing more with less’, and bringing on board all relevant actors. This includes partnerships with Member States on enforcement and information, with intermediaries (consumer organisations and the media), with business on consumer information, and at international level on product safety. We have already collected contributions from the advisory networks that we manage which bring together consumer organisations and national authorities.
We now plan to organise a hearing at the beginning of 2012, possibly with the help of the IMCO Committee. Discussions are ongoing as regards its organisation. As a first step, we are preparing, in response to an earlier request from Parliament, a report on the integration of consumer interests into all aspects of consumer policy. This should be ready in early 2012.
Finally, I would add that last week, the Commission adopted a proposal for the 2014-2020 consumer programme – the financial framework that will underpin the Consumer Agenda from 2014 onwards. This is now for discussion between the budgetary authorities.
The proposed consumer programme focuses on four key areas of action, covering the whole spectrum of consumer policy. I am particularly pleased to note that its four specific objectives are very much in tune with the recommendations of your report: consumer safety (products, food and services); providing consumers with the right information and the educational tools to properly understand it; consolidating and further strengthening consumer rights and redress, and, last but not least, enforcement of consumer rights.
I realise that a report is, in essence, a series of compromises and might not address, or not address fully, all the issues some of you consider most important.
That said, I must say that the final outcome of your work provides excellent input into the Commission’s work on consumer policy. It contains very substantial elements for the promotion of the interests of European consumers. In particular, I very much welcome the comprehensive approach to consumer policy embodied in the report. Indeed, a successful modern consumer policy cannot be only about legislation, but has to be multi-faceted.
In this context, the report rightly puts the emphasis on consumer safety, both for products and food. It stresses the importance of empowering consumers, of consumer education and information. It rightly emphasises the need for EU consumer policy to support growth and innovation in the retail sector and, in particular, the completion of the digital single market. It cites reviewing the existing consumer legislation, notably in relation to unfair commercial practices and misleading advertising, and redress – including alternative dispute resolution and on-line dispute resolution – among the priorities.
It insists on the need to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of existing legislation. It highlights some cross-cutting issues such as sustainable consumption, vulnerable consumers and accessibility. From a sectoral point of view, it rightly puts the stress on financial services, energy and digital.
Together with previous Parliament reports dealing with consumer issues – such as the Grech, Hedh, Arias and Schaldemose reports, as well as the forthcoming work on vulnerable consumers – this report offers the Commission an extremely valuable source of inspiration for its work on the future consumer policy.
Let me say a few words about the Commission’s intentions in this respect. Vice-President Reding and I envisage presenting a Consumer Agenda in the first half of next year. This Consumer Agenda will present a coherent, strategic vision for consumer policy in the years to come, together with milestones set between 2012 and the end of the current Commission’s mandate. We envisage an ambitious text, focusing on concrete measures, putting consumers at the centre of the single market, something you have stressed in your report.
The key principle will be to empower consumers, in the broadest sense of the term. Empowerment is about how consumers can participate actively in the market and make it work for them. We will include consumer issues under Vice-President Reding’s portfolio and my own, but also measures falling under other Commissioners’ responsibility, such as financial services, energy, transport and digital.
This will meet a key concern mentioned in your report, namely, the need for a coherent, holistic approach to consumer policy."@en1
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