In an effort to give a boost to e-commerce in Europe, the European Commission (EC) has adopted a Green Paper that identifies a range of problems in existing European consumer protection legislation and sets out what the Commission sees as being the main options for reforming this legislation, putting forward a set of 28 recommendations that the Commission has submitted to public consultation.
With the adoption of this Green Paper, ''Green Paper on the Review of the Consumer Acquis'' on 8 February 2007, the Commission hopes to increase the relatively low levels of confidence that European consumers currently have in e-commerce. This low level of confidence is seen as one of the reasons why so few Europeans use electronic commerce - it is reported that only 6% of European consumers currently make purchases online.
The commission is calling upon all interested parties to put forward their opinions on the issues raised in the paper. Replies should be sent no later than 15 May 2007, marked ''Response to the Green Paper on the Review of Consumer Acquis''), by email to SANCO-B2@ec.europa.eu or by post to the address below:
European Commission
Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection
Rue de la Loi 200
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Replies to the consultation will be published on the website of the Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General of the European Commission unless respondents make a request to the contrary. The commission will publish a summary of the contributions received in the summer of 2007.
Further information:
- Green Paper on the Review of the Consumer Acquis http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_int/safe_shop/acquis/green-paper_cons_acquis_en.pdf
- IP/07/158 Nota de imprensa - Consumers: Commission acts to boost confidence in digital world (em inglês) http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/158&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
- Perguntas Frequentes: The Review of EU Consumer Protection Rules ''The Review of the Consumer Acquis'' http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/48&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr
