Proposal for a Directive amending Directive 2011/83/EU concerning financial services contracts concluded at a distance and repealing Directive 2002/65/EC

Summary:

Legislative initiative tabled by the European Commission on 11 May 2022, introducing amendments to Directive 2011/83/EU concerning financial services contracts concluded at a distance, and repealing Directive 2002/65/EC. This is a text with EEA relevance.

Further information:

Directive 2011/83/EU - also known as the Consumer Rights Directive - aimed to approximate certain aspects of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning contracts concluded between consumers and traders. Directive 2002/65/EC established common rules for the marketing of financial services by suppliers to consumers in the European Union (EU).

The market significantly evolved in light of the overall digitalisation of the sector and the new types of financial services that have been developed since the rules were first introduced in 2002. Such developments were further enhanced by the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, which greatly contributed to an increase in online transactions. Directive 2002/65/EC was subject to a full evaluation, which highlighted that its relevance had been reduced due to the enactment of product-specific legislative acts over the years. Digitalisation also affected the Directive's effectiveness in reaching its objectives. However, the Directive still remained useful since its horizontal application ensured that consumers had a certain level of protection for contracts concluded at a distance for those financial products that were not yet subject to any EU legislation.

The European Commission thus decided to propose the repeal of Directive 2002/65/EC, the modernisation and subsequent inclusion of the still relevant articles into Directive 2011/83/EC, the extension of certain rules of Directive 2011/83/EU to consumer financial services concluded at a distance and the introduction of targeted new provisions to ensure online fairness when consumers conclude financial services online.

This draft law was tabled by the European Commission on 11 May 2022.

• Primary Source

• Alternative Source

Official

EUR-LEX: SWD(2022)141: Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal - Impact Assessment Report https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=SWD:2022:141:FIN

EUR-LEX: SWD(2022)142: Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal - Executive Summary of the Impact Assessment Report https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=SWD:2022:142:FIN

European Commission: Distance marketing of financial services https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/banking-and-finance/consumer-finance-and-payments/retail-financial-services/distance-marketing-financial-services_en

European Commission: Press Release, 11/05/2022: Consumer protection: Commission adopts stronger consumer rules for online financial services https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_2979

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