Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-21-Speech-1-159-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120521.20.1-159-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, I am very pleased to note the considerable interest that Parliament clearly attaches to consumer issues. This is evidenced in several own-initiative reports that have been very helpful to the Commission in the preparation of the Consumer Agenda – our new consumer strategy – which we are presenting tomorrow.
If vulnerable consumers are to be properly protected, Member States, businesses and intermediaries, such as consumer NGOs, also have an important role to play. There is a need for close cooperation and the active involvement of all the main stakeholders. We must collectively remain constantly vigilant to market and societal changes that increase the risk of exclusion for certain groups or individuals.
To conclude, may I say once again that I very much appreciate the valuable report that Parliament has produced, and which I know will make an important contribution to the Commission’s work.
I would like to thank, in particular, the rapporteur, Ms Irigoyen Pérez, and the shadow rapporteurs for their valuable work on this latest own-initiative report. Your input will contribute towards developing further actions for protecting and strengthening the rights of vulnerable consumers. The Commission wholeheartedly agrees that it is important to address the vulnerability of consumers, and this will be reflected in the Consumer Agenda.
This initiative will present a coherent, strategic vision for consumer policy for the years to come, focusing on concrete measures that put consumers at the centre of the single market. Special attention will be paid to those markets also identified by the Parliament report as being particularly problematic for consumers. This includes financial services, energy, transport, telecommunications and the digital market.
I would agree with Parliament’s view that it is not possible to encapsulate vulnerability in a single definition. Instead, we need to identify the various factors that can contribute to consumer vulnerability in specific markets or in particular circumstances. To this end, research and innovation have an important role to play. We are fully committed to mainstreaming the issue of vulnerability into market surveys and consumer studies, including consumer behaviour studies.
As also pointed out by Parliament’s report, the concept of ‘vulnerable consumer’ has only been introduced relatively recently in European legislation. However, we already have in place provisions that safeguard the interests and rights of groups of consumers that can be considered more vulnerable in a structural sense – children, elderly people and people with disabilities.
I can assure you that the Commission is constantly looking to improve these measures. I fully acknowledge that we also need to anticipate market developments and innovation to make sure that these also deliver benefits for vulnerable consumers.
Let me briefly outline just some of the initiatives that the Commission has already brought forward and which focus on the specific areas highlighted by the report. These initiatives include: revising the General Product Safety Directive; evaluating the implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive; looking into ways of tackling the problem of over-indebtedness; and assessing the functioning of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, especially in the digital and financial markets.
We will also further monitor and assess the application of the rules of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive in order to strengthen their effectiveness, in particular, with regard to the protection of minors, across different audiovisual media environments. We are bringing forward a proposal on web accessibility. We have set up a Working Group across the Commission services on the exchange of best practices across Member States and long-term solutions and appropriate non-policy solutions that better target vulnerability in the area of energy.
Finally, the Commission is launching guidelines on the application of the regulation on the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples