EU moots class action for consumers
HONOR MAHONY
13.03.2007 @ 17:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU has launched a series of proposals designed to get consumers to feel at ease when buying in other member states.
One of the main ideas in the proposal - announced by consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva on Tuesday (13 March) - is the introduction of collective redress.
At the moment there are "27 mini-markets" in the EU, says Mrs Kuneva (Photo: European Commission)
The commission believes it will give European consumers the confidence to buy goods abroad with only 26 percent of consumers currently doing so according to 2006 figures.
This figure drops to just six percent when it concerns online purchases while only 19 percent of retailers bother to advertise abroad.
Stressing that collective redress is not "an invitation to be more litigious" Ms Kuneva said that the system established would be specific to Europe and not based on the US class action.
The US system allows consumers to put all their individual claims together to make one lawsuit - this allows legal action that otherwise would have been too costly for a single individual.
With the details still to be worked out, the commissioner said she would support any system that provided for a "prompt" and cheaper way of getting recourse for damaged or faulty goods.
At the moment, 10 countries have some form of joint consumer action - but all only offer it within their own borders.
Other parts of the overall initiative include strengthening the system whereby consumers are alerted to dangerous products; boosting the cooperation between consumer centres which advise people of their buying rights and developing post-graduate courses in consumer issues.
"With this strategy we aim to awake a sleeping giant, the retail side of the single market," said Mrs Kuneva.
"I want a citizen in Birmingham to feel as comfortable shopping for a digital camera from a website in Berlin or Budapest as they would in their high street," she added.
The EU consumers' organisation, BEUC, welcomed the initiative.
"The strategy is promising in both senses of the word – it gives good reason for hope but hopes must be turned into reality," said its director Jim Murray.
Consumer spending in the EU accounts for 58 per cent of the bloc's Gross Domestic Product.