Without the EU, we in Germany would still be living in the Stone Age when it comes to consumer protection. A large number of directives and regulations have significantly improved the situation for consumers in recent decades. The fact that rooming charges for telephone calls have been abolished within the EU is just one of them.
Hi, I’m Jörg Stroisch, I’m the host of German Vote, a podcast that is very much dedicated to consumer issues in the EU.
I have been working as a freelance journalist for consumer topics for over 20 years, focussing very strongly on real estate, insurance provision and digital topics.
New episodes are always published in the middle of the month, on the 2nd Monday of the month in German (indicated by a [de]). One week later, on the 3rd Monday of the month, there is the same episode in English (indicated by the [en] in the title). It is not exactly identical to the de-episode, but almost.
Please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram. I will also accompany this podcast with further information on these platforms.
Transcription:
And this is an episode from the “Kai from the box”-section. Because many EU regulations always seem to come as a surprise, jumping out of the box like a wharf and then everyone in Germany is outraged. Or you don’t even realise it.
The latest example: Banks must now offer fast transfers within 20 seconds and free of charge. This has been the case since the beginning of the year and is based on EU legislation.
To give you a better overview, this episode gives you a few impressions of current and planned topics relating to consumer protection initiatives in the EU and also how consumer protection is generally approached in the EU. This episode has the character of an overview. Over the coming weeks and months, I will delve deeper and deeper into the individual areas.
“It is quite clear that we had two major waves in the last mandate that affected consumers – one was the digital legislation, where massive changes were made. And we have had the other wave, which was in connection with the Green Deal.”
René Repasi, Member of the European Parliament for the Socialist Group S&D.
“However, it is becoming increasingly clear that we are in a much better position in Europe with uniform consumer rules than with decentralised regulation in the Member States.”
Andreas Schwab, Member of the European Parliament for the conservative EPP Group.
“There are some flagship projects of this European Commission from which we expect a great deal.”
Isabelle Buscke from the Federation of German Consumer Organisations.
“Consumer protection is really very important in the EU and there is simply a very wide-ranging framework that can be exploited.”
Birgit Schmeitzner, Press Officer of the EU Commission.
Four statements on consumer policy in the EU. And four statements which, even in this short form, already indicate that EU consumer policy is about the very big European picture. But which have a very local and individual impact on your wallet and your own civil rights.
Many initiatives for consumer protection coming from the EU
In Germany, we often imagine that we are the spearhead in Europe when it comes to consumer protection, civil rights and democratic rights. De facto, however, a large part of the relevant impetus in relation to consumers comes from the EU. I can report here from my own experience as a journalist.
Years ago, I attended an event on the EU’s so-called Property Mortgage Directive in Brussels. Years later, consumers feared that they would no longer be granted property loans due to the new directive. Or another case from my work as an online retailer.
An EU packaging regulation has also obliged retailers to contribute to the costs of disposing of packaging waste such as cardboard. Indirectly, the consumer also pays for this. I stand by my assertion that without these EU initiatives, we would still be living in the Stone Age in many areas in Germany that are important for the end consumer.
I am very grateful for these impulses, without finding them all unreservedly good.
“On 20. novembre have been a preparatory shadow rapporteurs‘ meeting, the first political trilogue took place on 1 November, where the Parliament, Council and Commission initially presented their basic positions. We have also agreed on a four-column document as the basis for negotiations and mandated our employees to negotiate at the technical level. We have identified six topics that will probably be addressed at the political level during the next trilogue after appropriate preparation. These are the aspects of children’s mental health, the obligations of online marketplace providers, the digital product passport, the delegated powers and transitional provisions and, last but not least, the chemicals part of the regulation, which, however, lies almost exclusively within the exclusive remit of the Environment Committee.”
This is Marion Walsmann from the conservative EPP Group in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection in the European Parliament and talks about the revision of the Toy Safety Directive and the current state of negotiations. She is the rapporteur for this. This means that, on behalf of the European Parliament, she leads the negotiations with the European Council, the representation of the European nation states in this matter. In the so-called trialogue, in which the European Commission is also involved. At her side are the shadow reporters. These are parliamentarians delegated by the respective parliamentary groups who coordinate the positions with each other on behalf of the group.
Marion Walsmann explains the initiative as follows:
„The products on the European market have a high safety standard. Consumer protection is a top priority, as is product safety, especially when it comes to children’s toys. The Toy Safety Regulation is very important. We must therefore ensure that cheap products, counterfeits or other products from third countries that conquer our market or platforms of inferior quality with questionable behaviour, such as Temu or others, do not enter Europe via platforms and skim off the market advantages. And that is why this legislation is of fundamental importance for consumers.”
So it won’t be long before there is probably a law to protect consumers from bad toys. Overall, the EU Parliament is calling for further initiatives in relation to consumer protection. The last legislative period naturally focussed on this.
Plans for consumer protection in the EU
This is summarised by René Repasi from the Social Democratic parliamentary group S&D. In the last parliamentary term, he was a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and, in this mandate, a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, among others.
“So it is quite clear that in the last mandate we had two major waves that affect consumers – one was digital legislation, where a lot of things happened, with various legislative acts, such as a Digital Markets Act, when it comes to Big Tag, the Digital Services Act, where it is then about smaller players, but also relevant players and other things that are there in this context. We also cite the AI Act as an example and we have had the other wave, which was in connection with the Green Deal and where the main issue is the circular economy. For example, we had the right to repair. We had the ecodesign specifications that products should be repairable and more sustainable. And, of course, this has also brought a whole raft of new rights for consumers.”
The EU Commission, which is responsible for the legislative initiatives, emphasises the importance of consumer protection in the EU. Birgit Schmeitzner, spokeswoman for the EU Commission, takes a look at a very recent initiative that has been a success.
“Consumer protection is really very important in the EU. It has to be said that there is simply a very broad framework that can be utilised.
The decision was made in July, just before the von der Leyen 1 Commission actually stopped its active work after the European elections. That’s when the right to repair was decided. You have to take a look at the data. So every year there are 35 million tonnes of products that are simply thrown away but could still be repaired. In other words, an incredible waste of resources, of recyclable materials, and this throwaway society that has perhaps developed a little bit, that should simply be recaptured a little bit through this right to repair.
The corresponding directive must then be implemented everywhere in all 27 member states by summer 2026.”
Power of enforcement vested in the nation states
One is the advancement of legislative initiatives. The other is action against abuse or offences against it. This power of enforcement is almost always vested in the respective nation states. The fact that this can be problematic has been shown, for example, in the action taken against American tech companies for breaches of data protection. As Ireland was the EU country responsible for this, there was a constant back and forth.
Andreas Schwab, Member of the European Parliament for the conservative EPP group, is also critical of this. He mentions the Digital Service Act, for which he himself is a rapporteur.
“And we see it particularly strongly with Temu and other platforms that can circumvent customs and control conditions via certain transport airports, for example Ludwig, which are actually intended to ensure fairness on the markets. And this brings us more and more to the question of how much centralisation, how much uniformity does Europe actually need in order to assert itself in this great test of strength with countries such as the USA and China and their oversized markets? And how much regional diversity is good for us? And in this respect, it is right to ask where the implementation of existing law is failing, where criminal behaviour is the reason for undesirable developments, but at the same time to ask whether the European regulations do not give the Member States too much leeway to simply let certain controls slide. And you always have to be fair, because Germany often gives the impression that only Germany has proper controls. This is not the case. There are also other countries where controls are carried out correctly and even better than here. But in the end, it only helps us if controls are roughly the same everywhere. And of course we find this a little difficult, because the regional differences in Europe between the member states have persisted for much longer than we originally thought and we don’t want to impose overly strict requirements on the member states.”
René Repasi from the Social Democratic parliamentary group S&D shares this opinion.
“We write beautiful law, but in the end the quality of the law is as good as its enforcement. And that’s just a bit different in the digital space than in the classic space at home. If a product doesn’t suit us, then we say, don’t go through, border closed, scrap product. If we have an online provider who does not offer addresses, who does not apply the new Custom of Principle. Then we can say that this is an injury. An infringement is an event that triggers liability if rights cannot be pursued further. We can say that a company that constantly refuses to provide an address in the European single market is being denied access to the single market.”
What do consumer advocates think about all these developments? In Germany, there are consumer advice centres, among others, which are organised in the Federation of German Consumer Organisations and also get a good picture of what is going well and what is going less well by evaluating the many enquiries from citizens to the respective consumer advice centres. With the BEUC, there is also a European umbrella organisation in Brussels that represents 44 independent consumer organisations in 31 countries. The VZBV is represented on the Board of Directors. It has its own office in Brussels. Isabelle Buscke is the manager there. She also looks at the EU Commission’s plans for the current legislative period and notes:
“Consumer protection is a horizontal issue, a cross-cutting issue. This can be found in almost every policy area. Telecommunications work, energy policy, food and nutrition policy. And it’s all spread across many commissioners and their various departments. There are some flagship projects of this European Commission from which we expect a great deal. They have already been announced, so we are confident that they will come. The first is the adaptation of European consumer law to digitalisation in general and to digital business models. What’s it all about? I want to shop in a webshop and am asked three times whether I would like the newsletter and here is another pop-up and here I can still win something and there I am told quickly, quickly, there are only two left in stock, although this is often not true at all. We have also analysed this. And another major topic that the von der Leyen Commission has announced is to put an end to the annoying nuisances in European rail transport. At the moment, consumers face the obstacle that if they want to travel across Europe by train, they cannot book a ticket in one place that covers their entire journey and is fully protected by passenger rights.“
So that’s an overview of consumer policy at EU level and specific wishes and legislative initiatives.
Transparency Notice for this episode
And now, finally, my transparency notice. A travel allowance was granted by the EU Parliament for this episode. I also used services and radio studios of the EU Parliament in Brussels. Of course, no influence was exerted on my reporting.