Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-13-Speech-4-015"
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"en.20030313.1.4-015"2
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". – Mr President, let me commence by thanking and complimenting the rapporteurs Mr Whitehead, Mrs Patrie and Mrs Thyssen for their dedicated hard work of such high quality.
In addition, my services have been working on the nature of the legal barriers faced by business and consumers. First, we have been working with a group of national governmental experts to examine and compare national laws on unfair commercial practices. Second, we set up a team of academics who are currently completing a comprehensive comparative legal study. And third, we have organised a two-day workshop on several key issues, with all stakeholders.
This very thorough consultation and research process has enabled the Commission to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various nuances of national rules on unfair trading and the concerns of all stakeholders. I hope it has also enabled us to build a broad consensus on a workable framework directive.
The view of the European Parliament plays a very important part in the Commission’s deliberations. I therefore very much appreciate the constructive reports by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy and the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market confirming a growing consensus on the way forward. I hope today’s debate will enable us to reconcile the remaining points of divergence between the two reports. I look forward to hearing your views in this debate.
First of all I would like to say a few words about the new consumer policy strategy, which was adopted by the Commission last May and the purpose of which is to give a clear sense of political direction covering the next five years.
It has three key objectives. The first is to achieve a high common level of consumer protection. The second objective is to make sure that there is
effective enforcement of consumer protection rules. The third objective is to provide for the involvement of consumer organisations in EU policies.
I would like to stress that these three objectives have been designed with the three following cross-cutting ideas in mind: To help achieve integration of consumer concerns into all EU policies, such as competition policy, transport and justice; to maximise the benefits of the single market for consumers – this is a result which should benefit business and consumers alike; and, last but not least, to prepare for enlargement. All three objectives of the strategy – a high common level of consumer protection, effective enforcement of consumer protection rules and proper involvement of consumer organisations – were very much designed with the perspective of new and future countries joining the EU shortly and in the future.
The action plan on consumer protection and the Green Paper on consumer protection put forward a number of options and raised a number of questions on the future of EU consumer protection policy. They suggested, in particular, the idea of a framework directive on unfair commercial practices.
The Commission also suggested the development of a legal instrument for cooperation between enforcement authorities.
The favourable response to the consultation exercise encouraged us to continue working on this idea of a framework directive. However there was a general feeling that more information, clarification and consultation on the content of any such framework directive was needed. The follow-up communication of June 2002 responded to this need.
We also recognised the need to complete the evidence of existing problems and opportunities. Both Mrs Patrie’s and Mrs Thyssen’s reports recognise this need. We therefore commissioned three major studies. First, a survey of 16 000 consumers looking at consumer experience of, and attitudes towards, cross-border shopping. Second, a parallel survey asking similar questions to nearly 3 000 businesses, mainly SMEs, that advertise and sell to consumers. This gives us a clear sense of what the impact of a framework directive will be on small and medium-sized companies. Third, we commissioned an independent consultant to carry out an impact assessment of the legislative options set out in the Green Paper.
The conclusions of this impact assessment and surveys can be summarised as follows. Eighty million Europeans would shop more across borders if they felt as secure as they do when shopping at home. Forty-six percent of companies expect the proportion of their cross-border sales to increase with harmonisation. Only 1% of companies expects a decrease. Sixty-eight percent of European businesses said that harmonisation in this area is an efficient way of facilitating cross-border sales. The impact assessment concluded that a framework directive based on full harmonisation would be the most effective way to remove barriers to cross-border retail trade."@en1
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