Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-13-Speech-4-019"
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"en.20030313.1.4-019"2
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".
Mr President, I will speak for two minutes on behalf of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities and the rest of the time I will speak about the report by Mrs Patrie and the report by Mrs Thyssen. Mr President, it gives me pleasure to begin with the strategy for consumer policy and to respond to what Mr Whitehead has written.
As rapporteur for the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities I am grateful to Mr Whitehead for the fact that many of our amendments have been included in the – as always, may I say, Phillip – thorough report you have produced. What the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities wants is for vulnerable groups to be closely involved in consumer policy and I think this is expressed very well. Special attention must be given to consumers and consumer organisations in the applicant countries, as we think that the internal market can only function at its best when the parties in the market are of equal standing. This means that we need to equip the consumer to make considered choices.
The consumer organisations in the applicant countries are not yet, if I may put it like this, ideally equipped for their role as representatives of consumers. The need to pay special attention to this is justified and we have asked for this very often. So I can find in the main points of the 2002-2006 strategy: a high level of consumer protection, effective enforcement of the current regulations and a role for the consumer organisations. I have already mentioned that specifically.
Mr President, now I come to the Green Paper. The aim of the Green Paper is to arrive at a framework directive for consumer policy. I am, if a number of conditions are met, for such a framework directive. Present legislation is indeed too fragmented and a framework directive can help to bring clarity to the situation. I think it is excellent that the provision of information needed to make choices before the sale of a service or product, the sale itself, after sales, service, complaints procedures and access to law are brought together in the framework directive. Unfair trading practices must be the starting point for this and so I feel very comfortable with Mrs Thyssen’s report.
The legislation of this framework directive must not and cannot come on top of the existing forest of regulations. That would make everything even more confusing, not only for the consumer but certainly also for the business world. I am therefore strongly arguing that, when we present this framework directive, we also at the same time immediately repeal the various vertical directives the water framework directive is a good example. In that sense we think that the framework directive would solve something. It is very important with this kind of horizontal framework, in our view, that the same obligations apply all over Europe, not only for business but also for consumers. That makes things clear and provides more opportunities, especially for smaller businesses, to make use of the opportunities offered by the internal market.
Mr President, I would also like to say that this framework directive should assume a high level of protection of the consumer, but that it should also be based on the principle of maximum harmonisation, but linked to the high level of protection. I think this is necessary, because if this does not happen confusion will remain. We want the internal market to function well, we want to get good service throughout Europe, we want good services to be sold and for everyone to know exactly where they stand. In that sense we can vote for a framework directive. I also hope that the amendments submitted by our group to the Patrie Report, which we hope will bring that report more into line with Mrs Thyssen’s report, will be supported. I think this will help us to reach a very good demarcation. I wish the services of the Commission a lot of luck and ask them to please involve us, and the stakeholders, in drafting the new legislation."@en1
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