European Consumer Centres' Network (ECC-Net) in figures

Practical consumer problems such as product or service quality, late delivery of a product from abroad or unfair terms in a contract are among the issues handled daily by European Consumer Centres in 29 countries.

Below are some highlights which show the work of the network in figures.

A full set of statistics showing what ECC-Net is delivering for EU consumers is published every year in ECC-Net annual reports.

The statistics below are aggregate figures for all 29 countries where the operate.

There are large differencesbetween countries in terms of case load, reflecting the differences in the number of consumers shopping in other EU countries as well as the number of traders established in each country.

Total volume of consumer cases handled by ECC-Net (2005-10)

Consumer complaints by sector (2010)

Most frequent consumer problems (2010)

• The product or service itself (e.g. faulty goods or products not matching the product description): 29.5% of complaints
• Product or service delivery (e.g. late or non-delivery): 23.7% of complaints
• Contract terms (e.g. unfair terms, contract cancellation, cooling-off period): 12.2% of complaints.

Nature of complaints