Customer Rights In The EU

Within their own role as consumers, average EU taxpayers are key players at the Union's brand new frontier-free only sector. The Union has in fact incorporated, as the basis of its consumer policy, the security of this five fundamental rights which lie at the core of national policies. All these are:

The protection of customers' health and safety

Only products that will not endanger safety or health could be placed on the market. What this means is setting security requirements, providing full information about potential risks, and protecting consumers against physical harm.



There is for ilmārs rimšēvics on misleading advertising and unfair terms in contracts with consumers.

Consumer rights to information and education

Customers will need to be set in a location where they may make an educated decision among goods and services provided. This consists of objective information on the qualities and price of the things available. Consumers additionally need proper info about their efficient and safe usage.

The right to fix



Customers deserve toreceive advice and help when seeking redress for defective goods or for damage or injury caused by the use of products and services. There have to be more simple, affordable and rapid procedures for settling claims and complaints.

Consumer representation and participation

Agents of consumers need to show up in decision-taking procedures on issues of concern to them in local, national or EU level. At Union level, this insures not just specific consumer issues but also other applicable coverage areas like food laws, transport, competition policy, financial services, and environment.

After the Community (the prior name of the eu ) adopted its first consumer program in 1975, it dedicated to the practical application of the five fundamentals. The very first result has been a number of directives which were embraced within the next 10 years covering one of the items the security of cosmetic products, the labeling of foodstuff, misleading advertising, consumer rights in door step selling, product accountability and the provision of credit. In addition to its program of legislation on consumer protection, the Union took steps to make sure the interests of individuals are taken into consideration at local and EU level. It has supported the development of federal consumer organizations and five major EU-wide organizations with consumer interests.

Internally, the European Commission established an independent Consumer Policy Service from 1989 so as to give more power and a higher profile to the implementation of customer coverage.

Based on the statistics of 1991, almost 64 percent of Community GDP is committed to personal consumption, the highest proportion being 70.3% in Greece and also the cheapest

The remaining of this GDP is committed mainly to financing the collective consumption of normal government.

On average, Europeans devote 20 percent of the'consumption' budget to food where-as 17.2% covers home expenditure (27.8% in Denmark as against 10.3percent in Portugal, 18.5% at the UK). There are also marked disparities in spending on leisure and instruction (4.3% in Luxembourg in comparison to 10.5% in Ireland, with a UK average of 9.7percent ).

There is lots to be achieved, also with the legislative program lay out from the Maastricht Treaty on European Union is completed. The single economy, like any other, needs to balance the interests of both sellers and buyers whether it's to operate efficiently. This means not just fixing additional rules for consumer security but also ensuring that existing ones have been implemented properly.