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Media Seminar |
Description of the workshop
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- Programme
Welcome to the Media Seminar of the European Consumer Summit 2011.
If you write or broadcast on topics which impact on peoples' daily lives as consumers, then we hope you will participate in this year's media seminar.
EU consumer policy is about:
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ensuring fairness, access and choice in the marketplace
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empowering consumers
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ensuring there is help when things go wrong.
Given the media's capacity to empower consumers, in this year's media seminar we would like to explore the potential for partnership with you to make a difference for consumers in the marketplace. Do we have common aims, as we try to reach consumers and you your readers, and if so what needs to happen if we want to reach them in a more meaningful way?
Programme
The centrepiece of this year's dedicated media programme will be a participatory meeting that will enable you to meet and engage with your colleagues from all over Europe, and with colleagues from the Commission.In the context of four hot consumer topics (see below) told through real life stories, and we will explore how we might collaborate to reach citizens/readers and help them as consumers. We hope this year's format will be a new departure: we hope it will be more enjoyable, productive and enlightening.
The programme will also include:
- a press breakfast with EU Health and Consumers Commissioner John Dalli
- opportunities for interviews with the Commissioner and other Commission officials
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personalised assistance from our PR staff for practical needs
- a buffet lunch and cocktail.
Participants
We are inviting a limited number of editors from both print and audiovisual media and this year we want to ensure more interaction and discussion with topic-specific groups. We are particularly interested to involve media who:
- specialise in consumer issues.
- would like to explore the potential interest of EU consumer policy for their readers.
- are interested in developing contacts at EU level in the field of consumer affairs.
Note: In the interest of offering a more interactive format this year, the proceedings will be in English only. We hope that the opportunity to discuss topics in greater depth will outweigh any perceived obstacle.
You can comment on the proposed programme and format (see below) and also ask questions in advance (SANCO-ECS-MEDIA@ec.europa.eu); this will help us to tailor the programme to your interests.
Seminar detail
The Media Seminar is designed to give participants a view of some of the most topical consumer policies that are relevant for your audiences (see in particular the four topics below) and the possibility to probe areas of special interest more deeply. In that context we also wish to explore how and what the EU provides to media, what does and doesn't work, what can be done in common purpose for consumers etc.
| Alternative Dispute Resolution and Online Dispute Resolution – helping consumers resolve problems: |
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This is about the mechanisms to help consumers resolve disputes with traders, both on and offline, and having their rights respected. It is also about creating confidence for consumers when they shop in the single market and empowering them with a source of help when things go wrong and the knowledge and confidence to use it.
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Watching consumer markets:
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Looking at: our recent findings about the specific markets that are failing EU consumers; the results of our recent survey which shows the challenges to being truly empowered as a consumer in the EU; what is keeping consumers from shopping around abroad for greater choice and better prices; what the EU is doing to help ensure that failing markets start working for consumers.
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Safe products on the EU market:
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Looking at what the EU is doing to keep the toys, cars or electrical appliances that are on our single market safe and how promoting awareness and safety tips can really make a difference.
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Financial services for consumers:
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EU consumer policy is addressing some pressing issues for citizens in this sector: Bank fees (more transparency); new study on how consumers choose investment services (less than 2 out of 100 consumers can make optimal choices); revision of the mortgages directive for more consumer protection; also making sure that the forthcoming important financial services related legislation (Package Retail Investment Products - PRIPS) (information to consumers when buying financial products) that consumer interests are fully taken into account.
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