Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Transcription

1 Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection - Secretariat - Version 3 02/09/2015 BM/gf Vu:PK Budget item and title Expenditure related to officials and temporary staff in the Internal market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs policy area External personnel IMCO/6575 IMCO/6576 FINAL VOTING LIST on the budgetary amendments: 2016 Budgetary Procedure Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection : I. Gáll-Pelcz Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget

2 Improving access to finance for small and middle-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the form of equity and debt Operation and development of the internal market of goods and services Support to standardisation activities performed by CEN, Cenelec and ETSI Support to organisations representing small and middle-sized enterprises (SMEs) and societal stakeholders in standardisation activities Internal market governance tools Expenditure related to officials and temporary staff in the Taxation and customs union policy area External personnel IMCO/6592 Liisa Jaakonsaari IMCO/6577 IMCO/6578 IMCO/6579 IMCO/6580 IMCO/6581 IMCO/ Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget 2

3 Support expenditure for Customs Supporting the functioning and modernisation of the customs union Membership of international organisations in the field of customs Implementation and development of the internal market Expenditure related to officials and temporary staff in the Justice and Consumers policy area External personnel Support expenditure for the Consumer programme IMCO/6583 IMCO/6584 IMCO/6585 IMCO/6586 IMCO/6587 IMCO/6588 IMCO/ Safeguarding IMCO/6590 consumers interest and improving their safety and information Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget Restore Draft Budget 3

4 Pilot Project on Consumer Empowerment and Education on the safety of products and market surveillance in the Digital Single Market IMCO/ Add following text: The pilot project on 'Consumer Empowerment and Education in the Digital Single Market' is a dedicated fund to finance the testing of a strategy to be carried out under the auspices of the European Commission. New PP Draft endorsed in IMCO on 4 June 2015 The pilot project should contribute to: - carrying out a large public education campaign on the safety of products and market surveillance to support consumer and business understanding and appreciation of the challenges associated with e- commerce; - undertaking additional coordinated advocacy at Union level. In a truly connected Digital Single Market, every consumer should be able to trust the safety of the products purchased online wherever they are in the EU. It requires building consumer trust and confidence in the economic operators selling online and the authorities carrying out their enforcement tasks while empowering and educating 4

5 consumers to effectively perform their role as responsible buyers. An empowered, protected and educated digital consumer is an investment in our future: it entails protecting, giving confidence to the consumers, while enhancing the accountability of tomorrow s online consumers. Consequently, national forums are definitely the most suitable to provide consumer education and to help educate the consumers of tomorrow. In an increasingly globalised world, awareness regarding your rights as a consumer and what caution you should take is crucial to ensure protection, confidence and social responsibility while consuming. Given the fast development of the Internet, social media and online networks and also online offers of (often fashionable) products from anywhere in the world where safety standards are not the same as in the EU, teenagers are the most likely to suffer from this lack of awareness. This project provides a means for stakeholders and citizens to learn about consumer education themselves and to pass this invaluable information onto everyone through cross curricular 5

6 projects. In this respect, also service providers would gain information on how to settle their taxes from transborder transactions, i.e. on how to efficiently use the VATMOSS system. Members of the Commission's Expert Group on the safety of products sold online have identified that the most effective way to protect consumers from risks associated with products purchased by them online is to raise their awareness about pitfalls linked to this distribution channel and to empower them to make well informed purchase decisions online. The Expert Group is currently working on a set of guidance for market surveillance authorities which cover, inter alia, two important elements that contribute to educating and informing consumers about product safety online: A) The information that consumers should be aware of (e.g. there are product safety rules and consumers should look for information about compliance of products with these rules, the fact that authorities are responsible for checking the 6

7 internet, but their resources and powers are limited, especially outside the EU, consumers should make use of complaints or other tools to inform authorities about problems faced online, etc.) B) The ways in which this information is conveyed to consumers (through websites, campaigns, social media, conventional media, consumer organisations, complaints systems, etc.). When unsafe products are found somewhere in Europe, it is important to have the ability to stop the products and make the companies recall or withdraw the products from the European market. This will create more confidence among consumers when it comes to buying products on the European market. The Pilot Project could also test in practice the recommendations of the guidance (intended to be finalised by the end of 2015), including making concrete messages available in all EU languages and collecting feedback. The project should have a start-up phase running from mid-2016 to 7

8 mid-2017 for drafting modules and organising the process, and subsequently an operational phase. The modules should be developed with existing or in progress knowledge and guidelines, improved and added to over time, as feedback will allow corrections to be made, and changing legislation or markets will necessitate additions. 8