Consumer and Competition Division

On the occasion of World Consumers Rights Day, I thought it would be opportune this year to focus on the way EU consumer policy is evolving while bearing in mind that Malta will very soon become a member state.

During the informal ministerial meeting on consumer policy in Rome late last year, ministers stressed that a high level of consumer protection had to be achieved through Community harmonisation, evaluating on a case-by-case basis the possibility of full harmonisation.

Efficient networking was also considered to be important at Community level for both the administration and consumer organisations.

Consumer education was considered an essential means for the empowerment of the consumer and information was considered to be a key element for the consumer's active participation in the market, especially information on prices and quality of goods and services.

It was also pointed out that the best use should be made of the new information and communication technologies. Moreover, the importance of the different roles of consumer organisations in terms of information, influence in policymaking and market surveillance was also recognised.

Now that ten new member states are set to join the EU, come May of this year, it is even more important to guarantee optimum conditions for a healthy internal market and that co-operation in implementing consumer protection has become of paramount importance.

The most recent strategic orientations of the EU in the field of consumer protection are aimed at improving consumer confidence, particularly in the area of general product safety and cross border transactions.

To achieve these aims we need to set up networks of public authorities responsible for monitoring the application of the rules. Networking is very important, especially when it comes to general product safety issues. Surveillance programmes must also be co-ordinated to avoid duplication of testing of the same product in the market.

Up to now consumers have been rather reluctant to carry out transactions in other countries since they are not certain whether the rules applying in their country also apply in other countries. Consumer confidence needs to be improved with regard to cross-border purchases.

This can only be done by moving towards harmonisation of community rules as provided for in the proposed Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices.

In order for our country to achieve such aims there is a need for close collaboration between all concerned, including traders' associations, consumers' associations and the various authorities.

It is only through such collaboration that we can manage to achieve our goal in the smoothest way possible, which will enable us to have a coherent consumer protection legislation based as much as possible on harmonisation, efficient enforcement and consumer empowerment with special emphasis on the latter.