Council Resolution of 28 June 1999 on Community consumer policy 1999 to 2001
21. 7. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 206/1 I (Information) COUNCIL COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 28 June 1999 on Community consumer policy 1999 to 2001 (1999/C 206/01) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, initiatives, such as the consumer policy action plan 1999 to 2001; Having regard to the Commission communication on the consumer policy action plan 1999 to 2001, Whereas: (5) the Vienna European Council on 11 and 12 December 1998 stated in its conclusions on the internal market that consumer protection should be one of the future priorities of the Council; (1) the Community, in order to ensure a high level of consumer protection and to promote the interests of consumers, shall contribute to protecting the health, safety and economic interests of consumers as well as to promoting their right to information, education and to organise themselves to safeguard their interests; in order (2) consumer protection requirements shall be taken into account in defining and implementing other Community interdependence policies between and activities consumer policy initiatives is growing as is the inter- relationship between consumer interests and those of other stakeholders of the society; and activities; whereas policies other the and these (3) the past achievements of Commmunity consumer policy legislation as well as political include both important orientations the Council which have contributed substantially to a high level of consumer protection and to the promotion of the economic and legal interests of consumers; adopted by (6) Community consumer policy has to respect the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality in accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Article 5 of the Community; whereas Community should support and supplement the policy pursued by the Member States, and Member States may adopt or maintain in force more stringent provisions - which must be compatible with the Treaty - to ensure a higher level of consumer protection; consumer policy of the (7) the choice of measures to be taken at Community level to safeguard or establish the required high level of consumer protection should be based on the analysis of, in particular, the objectives to be achieved, the nature and scope of the issues to be covered, the potential costs and benefits of action or lack of action and the developments on the market in order to make the best choice between the different legislative and non-legislative solutions; (4) Decision No 283/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 January 1999 establishing a general framework for Community activities in favour of consumers (1) states in the preamble that it is necessary to evaluate past achievements and draw up a policy priority programme framework, including an action plan and calls in Article 3 for the consistency Community activities and projects under this general framework and the other Community programmes and complementarity to implement between general and this of (1) OJ L 34, 9. 2. 1999, p. 1. (8) under certain circumstances self-regulation by business or voluntary agreements between consumer organisations and business can be an appropriate complement or, in specific cases, ann alternative to legislation in particular as they allow for faster reactions to market developments; whereas such self-regulation and agreements must meet the objective of a high level of consumer protection, to information and not rights safeguard consumers’ the proper enforcement restrict competition; whereas and monitoring voluntary effectiveness and agreements are whereas voluntary failure agreements may require th adoption of binding rules; self-regulation their self-regulation of essential and and for of C 206/2 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 21. 7. 1999 (9) with regard to food safety, the Council’s consumer policy should continue to be guided by the Declaration by the Luxembourg European Council of 12 and 13 December inter alia as regards the completion of certain 1997, aspects of Community legislation, its simplification, the need to cover effectively and coherently the entire chain of food production and the optimisation of Member States’ controls and strengthening of their coordination with the Commission; Union and prepare and submit a proposal for a hori- zontal framework Directive on food law; 3. to be in the future even more determined to be guided by the precautionary principle in preparing proposals for consumer-related activities and develop as a priority clear and effective guidelines for the application of this principle; legislation and in its other (10) the development of European standards can be of great benefit for consumers, in particular with regard to their is generally agreed that health and safety; whereas it consumer closely involved in the standardisation process and have sufficient access to the necessary expertise in order to play their full part in this process; representatives be more should (11) the the globalisation of markets, rapidly increasing complexity of goods and services and manufacturing information and processes and the rapid spread of communication technologies provide clear benefits to the and therefore present challenges for Community consumer policy and its implementation and enforcement; also pose potential consumer, but risks (12) these developments require even better cooperation and coordination between Member States and the Commission and a more dynamic role for the Community in defending the interests of the European consumer in relevant inter- national fora, I. WELCOMES the Commission action plan 1999 to 2001 and the analysis and proposed action contained therein. II. CALLS UPON THE COMMISSION: 1. - to implement its action plan 1999 to 2001 whilst taking account of Decision No 283/1999/EC, and in particular Article 3 calling for consistency of and complementarity between the different Community activities, projects, programmes and initiatives, as well relevant political orientations adopted by the Council, as of the services financial 4. to continue its active policy aiming at the maintenance of market transparency and market balance in the interests of the consumer, in particular in the area of the information society, electronic commerce, distance selling, to competition of public utilities; continue as part of this policy to work on the protection of the legal interests of consumers including in particular their easy access to redress procedures taking into account point I(3) of Council Resolution of 19. January 1999 on the Consumer Dimension of the Information Society (1); opening and the 5. to review in this existing Community context consumer protection legislation and propose new provisions where necessary; 6. to take account in this context, where appropriate, of particularly vulnerable consumer groups; A more powerful voice for the consumer 7. to contribute to the strengthening of consumer organi- inter alia, by sations at European and national disseminating best practice and by reinforcing the role of the consumer representatives at Community level; level, 8. to examine on which issues and under which circum- stances the dialogue between consumer organisations and business should be encouraged; promote, where appropriate, voluntary agreements between them and keep Member States informed thereof; 9. to contribute to improving the effectiveness of the involvement of consumer representatives in the stan- dardisation process; - to put a specific emphasis on the following issues: Integration Health and safety; economic and legal interests 2. to pay particular attention to the review of the Directive on the general safety of products and to the related analysis of the safety of services as well as to the follow-up to the Commission’s green paper on the general principles of food law in the European 10. to ensure that consumer protection requirements are fully understood and are taken into account in the definition and implementation of other Community policies, sustainable consumption patterns, as well as in any review of consumer-related legislation, in order to develop a coherent and comprehensive consumer policy; the development of such as (1) OJ C 23, 28. 1. 1999, p. 1. 21. 7. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 206/3 International relations 11. trade to take greater account in international bilateral and multilateral policy requirements with regard to consumers’ economic and legal interests and particularly consumers’ health and safety; consumer relations of 12. to ensure that consumer policy requirements are addressed in the enlargement process. III. CALLS UPON THE COMMISSION AND THE MEMBER STATES 13. to further develop their dialogue on consumer policy effectiveness of with the aim of consumer policy measures they take by, where appro- priate, coordinating the main lines of the national consumer policies and/or the specific activities of those policies. enhancing the example cooperation in research, assessment and market surveillance. information, risk IV. CALLS UPON THE MEMBER STATES 15. to ensure, as appropriate, also at national consumer protection requirements are account in other relevant policies; level that taken into 16. to strengthen, national consumer organisations and improve their consultation at national level; appropriate means, by 17. to contribute to enabling the effective participation of standardisation representatives the in consumer process. 14. to the continue improving development and enforcement of Community legislation in particular through better administrative cooperation and coor- dination with and between the authorities of the Member States responsible for the development and including for enforcement of consumer legislation, V. REAFFIRMS its intention to further develop an active consumer policy at Community level along the lines referred to above, to take account also of consumer policy requirements in its decisions on other Community policies and AGREES to assess on a regular basis the progress made in the follow-up to this Resolution