EU consumer protection

Definition

The product safety framework is about ensuring that consumers are not exposed to unsafe products and services. Consumer protection rules give consumers certain rights when they deal with businesses. This fact sheet focusses on consumer rights.

EU consumer laws provide consumers with many key rights:

• The right to truthful advertising
• The right to have faulty goods repaired or replaced
• The right to contracts without unfair clauses
• The right to return most goods purchased online within 14 days
• The right to access goods and services on the same terms as local customers
• The right to free assistance from European Consumer Centres for problems with a trader based within the EU and wider European Economic area

Legislation

Key EU Directives and Regulations for consumer protection include:

• The Directive on the Sale of Goods and Associated Guarantees, which concerns contracts for the sale of goods (e.g. buying a camera or a smart watch). This gives a consumer a minimum 2-year legal guarantee against faulty products, or products that do not look or work as advertised. The Member States may increase this period in their national legislation.
• The Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of Digital Content and Digital Services, which concerns contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services (e.g. streaming music or social media accounts). This Directive gives consumers the right to remedy when digital content or a digital service is faulty. This includes not being cyber secure or fit for the digital contents or digital services’ use and purpose.
• The Consumer Rights Directive. This ensures that consumers have the same rights across the EU (e.g. when a consumer purchases a product or service online, over the phone, or by mail order). Consumer rights include:
  • The right to be provided with extensive information in advance of purchase
  • The right for a 14-day cooling-off period to cancel the purchase
  • The entitlement to a refund within 14 days of cancellation of the purchase.
• The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. The objective of this directive is to boost consumer confidence and make it easier for businesses to trade across borders. It regulates unfair commercial practices that occur before, during and after a business-to-consumer transaction has taken place. Unfair business practices include untruthful information to consumers or aggressive marketing techniques to influence their choices.
• The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Directive. This directive protects consumers against unfair standard contract terms imposed by traders. It applies to all kinds of contracts on the purchase of goods and services, including online sales of consumer goods.

The legislation also provides the consumers with a number of ways to enforce their rights. One such way is the Alternative Dispute Resolution Directive. It is intended to offer a simple, fast and affordable out-of-court mechanism, particularly practical for low value complaints.

Consumers have to enforce their rights through the legal systems of the individual EU Member States.

Consumers’ rights in practice

The European Union has put in place a set of policies and rules to ensure a high level of protection and strong rights for consumers. In addition, the EU’s policies are also designed to empower consumers, which sees consumers as active in protecting their own interests. Well informed consumers stimulate businesses to supply safer and better products at competitive prices. Consumers are able to seek direct support from either public bodies or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) within individual Member States.

Consumers have the right to return (most) goods purchased online within 14 days. They also have the right to have faulty goods repaired or replaced free of charge or get partially or fully refunded usually when repair or replacement is not possible.

Consumers will most likely report to the seller in the EU, but that person will presumably pass their claim back to their supplier. Likewise, EU importers may not be prepared to take the financial loss themselves but will seek compensation from the manufacturer.

EU consumers are very likely to complain. If there is a serious product safety issue or if consumer rights are consistently violated, then press and media often take an active interest in the issue, resulting in severe financial consequences for the business.

Actors in consumer protection in the EU

The main actors involved in consumer protection in the EU are:

• The ECC Net is a network of European Consumer Centres in each Member State, funded by the European Commission). These centres explain to consumers about their rights, help settle disputes with sellers based in different EU countries and advise consumers who to contact if they can’t help.
• BEUC, the European Consumer organisation, the umbrella group for 46 independent consumer organisations from 32 countries in Europe. Its main role is to represent consumers to the EU institutions and defend the interests of European consumers.

Manufacturers’ obligations

As a manufacturer or seller of products, it is important to recognise that the expectations of EU consumers are very high and have risen significantly over the recent years. Individual consumers have legal rights and they know them, so businesses must prepare themselves so they can react correctly if a consumer comes back with a claim.

Actions to be taken before the product is sold:

• Make sure that all advertising, e.g. on a website, is truthful and informative.
• Check that the contracts and business terms do not contain any unfair clauses.

Further guidance

The website of the European Commission contains further guidance material on consumer rights including the following:

• Website on E-commerce, distance and off-premises selling.
• Guidance on the Directive on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices.
• Guidance on the Unfair contract terms directive.

Related topics

• CE marking
• Conformity assessment
• Declaration of conformity
• EU market surveillance
• Product safety checklist
• Recall procedures
• Risk management
• Safety Gate / RAPEX
• Selling online
• Technical documentation
• Testing
• Using a third party

You may also visit the SPEAC ACADEMY to learn more about the EU Safety requirements.