A commitment in favour of consumer rights

Recently BEUC, the European consumer federation of consumer associations, launched its manifesto for circulation among the European Parliament candidates. Following the contributions of the various candidates in Malta standing for the EP elections, I cannot help but wonder just how many of these candidates have read this manifesto.

With a few notable exceptions the majority of the candidates have, to my knowledge, barely touched on consumer issues. In itself this sorry state of affairs regrettably demonstrates just how high (!) consumer protection is on the local agenda of priorities.

In truth consumer protection has never been given the importance it really deserves. There have been some sporadic positive initiatives by different administrations through the years but consumer protection was and remains the Cinderella on the local agenda of priorities.

From a purely consumer protection perspective, joining the EU if anything has one overall positive result - that of requiring the powers-that-be to give more importance to consumer issues and, consequently, to implement consumer related measures including various consumer protection laws because of the EU acquis.

The purpose of this short contribution is to highlight briefly some (not all) of the important issues being advocated by BEUC in the hope (I trust not forlorn) that some issues may at least be taken up by some of our candidates and eventually by those elected to the EP.

Food claims: This was and remains an important area of considerable concern to the consumer movement worldwide. BEUC is advocating that claims made on food must be clear, meaningful, and based on scientific facts.

Consumers must have a better knowledge of the nutritional content of the food they eat if they are to make an informed choice. BEUC is advocating obligatory labelling of nutritional information, thereby enabling consumers to make healthier choices and achieve a balanced diet.

Particular emphasis is made on the need to have specific provisions on the use of food products directly aimed at children. In more general terms in relation to advertising aimed at children, BEUC has also strongly voiced its concern at what is aptly described as the "proliferation of commercial communications to which children are subjected from morning to night". Advertising is a useful source of information for consumers but it is submitted that special measures should be considered where advertising specifically targets children.

Consumer credit: There is currently a fairly comprehensive proposal before the European Parliament to replace the existing directive, though it does look as if this new proposal may take some time to be approved. Regrettably, the original proposal has now been watered down. There has however been the positive development that the EP is considering that this should now be a minimum directive (meaning that member states can vary from the directive provided the measures are more favourable to consumers).

Credit is one of the more complex areas and consumers find it increasingly difficult to understand the complexities of consumer credit. Clearly there is the need for more pressure to ensure that information about credit - in particular the real costs involved - is rendered in plain and understandable language complemented by adequate remedies to consumers.

Services of a general interest: Whilst in general BEUC considers that consumers can often expect to gain from the liberalisation process, it is important that all consumers especially disadvantaged ones, have universal and affordable access to essential services of general interest. BEUC advocates that liberalisation must be accompanied by an appropriate degree of regulation to ensure compliance with the principles of universal services.

Consumer organisations in the new member states: The need for more support from the EU and member states to ensure that there are strong and independent consumer associations that are adequately resourced to carry out their tasks. This in a local context is important. Consumers in Malta regrettably voice their "support" only when they personally have a problem.

One cannot expect an association run exclusively by volunteers and on a meagre budget of a few hundred liri to cover the whole myriad of consumer issues whilst assisting individuals with their problems and at the same time having in place an effective and vociferous lobby. Clearly such a situation is not sustainable and at least temporarily the competent authorities must consider some form of financial support if the consumer movement in Malta is to cope with the increasing demands on its already limited human and financial resources.