Consumer Protection Cooperation

‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings aim to provide Members of the European Parliament with systematic and automatic analysis on all substantial proposals for EU legislation at every stage of the legislative procedure. Each contains an account of the purpose, content and legal aspects of the legislation proposed, in particular analysing what the legislation would change, as well as any previous legislation and the background. An overview of stakeholders’ views is also provided, as well as the opinions of national parliaments and the two advisory committees.

They are all made publicly available for stakeholders and the public.The European Commission estimates that the detriment to consumers caused by non-compliance with basic EU consumer rules in certain cross-border online markets and also by inefficient cross-border enforcement amounts to €770 million per year.

To remedy this, the Commission presented a legislative proposal in May 2016 to review the existing rules on consumer protection cooperation between enforcement authorities as part of its e-commerce package. The aim is to clarify the rules and to give more powers to national enforcement authorities, most importantly to enable them to address unlawful online practices and improve coordination among them.

Stakeholders have, in general, welcomed the move to improve cooperation between enforcement authorities and the European Economic and Social Committee in its opinion of 19 October 2016 supported the proposal.

The Maltese Council Presidency reached a general approach in February 2017, while the European Parliament’s IMCO committee adopted its report in March 2017 and also gave its negotiating team a mandate to negotiate with the Council.

Author: Jana Valant.

Additional Information

Three rounds of trilogue negotiations produced a
provisional agreement in June 2017, which awaited a first-reading vote in the European Parliament plenary session in November 2017.

• Primary Source

EP: EPRS: Briefing: EU Legislation in Progress http://epthinktank.eu/eu-legislation-in-progress/

ESO: Background information: Cooperation on the enforcement of consumer protection laws http://www.europeansources.info/record/cooperation-on-the-enforcement-of-consumer-protection-laws/

EP: EPRS: Plenary at a Glance, November 2017: Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2017/608802/EPRS_ATA(2017)608802_EN.pdf

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