European Commission distributes consumer rights' guide to businesses

As part of its consumer rights information campaign launched last October, the European Commission is also targeting businesses with the aim of assisting them to ensure that their customers' rights are upheld. A booklet published specifically for businesses, entitled Consumer Rights...Make Business Sense is currently being distributed to businesses.

The booklet aims to guide businesses through the sometimes complex maze of consumer legislation and to assist them in providing excellent customer care while respecting consumer rights.

The booklet tackles important issues, including the correct display of prices, business obligations when selling products and also clearly defines what is required from businesses when providing both the legal and commercial guarantees.

Other issues dealt with include the recently launched Unfair Commercial Practices directive, loans and selling on credit, product labelling and online selling.

The business booklet addresses EU consumer rights legislation from the business perspective and drives home the message that consumer rights also make sense for businesses. The European Commission's information campaign on consumer rights is mainly targeted towards consumers, providing them with information about their rights and encouraging them to assert them. The campaign's main message is 'Insist on your rights. They are yours by right'. Nonetheless, businesses are another important target group of the campaign as the market cannot function properly unless both businesses and consumers are aware of the rights that consumers are entitled to.

The booklet, available from Consumer House in South Street, Valletta, is also downloadable from www.camalta.org.