Consumer Rights Campaign 2014

The European Commission is running an information campaign to encourage consumers to learn more about their rights and to exercise them.

As consumers, we are often faced with situations where we are misled, unsure of what we were buying, or have simply changed our minds. This is even more the case when shopping online. Buying services and products online has become much easier, however, it's important that citizens feel safe when making use of these opportunities. The rights granted by EU legislation are only useful if people – both consumers and businesses - are aware of them. This is why the European Commission is running an awareness campaign at a time when consumers are being given a whole new set of reinforced rights.

The awareness raising campaign, led by Vice President Reding and Commissioner Mimica, aims to inform citizens about key consumer rights such as:

• the right to have defective goods repaired or replaced;
• the right to return something bought on-line during the first 14 days after purchase;
• the right to receive helpful advice in your own country and language if you have a dispute with a trader from another EU country;
• the right to get true and complete statements on the nature of products and services and on all the costs involved;
• the right to have accessible contracts, with clear and understandable conditions.

The campaign focuses on the countries where awareness of consumer rights is low according to the latest Consumer Scoreboard: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Latvia Poland, Portugal and Spain. There will in addition be a specific campaign for the European Union's newest Member State, Croatia.

Commissioner Mimica is holding a series of "consumer missions" to some of these Member States accompanied by events organised around his visits.

Events planning

Greece

17/03/2014	Conference: Getting Consumers Digital in Athens. (EU Presidency event)
	Commissioner Mimica kicked off the campaign.

Spain

24/04/2014

Conferences on the transposition of the Consumer Rights Directive in Madrid and Barcelona (Asociación Española de la Economía Digital)

EU

17/05/2014	Open Doors Day of the EU Institutions in Brussels
	The European Commission informed visitors at DG SANCO stand.

Cyprus

28/05/2014

Kick-off event in Nicosia

Portugal

02/06/2014

Conference on the Consumer Rights Directive and the Alternative Dispute Resolution package (Ministry of Economy)

Bulgaria

09/06/2014

Awareness-Raising event on Consumer Rights in Sofia (Ministry of Economy – Commission for Consumer Protection and European Commission) Commissioner Mimica kicked off the campaign.

Latvia

26/06/2014

Conference and kick-off event in Riga (European Consumer Centre Latvia and European Commission)

Italy

7-8/07/2014

Conference on "EU Cooperation for enforcement of consumer legislation" in Rome (EU Presidency event) Commissioner Mimica will kick off the campaign

More information and campaign material:

Your Europe

Video

Fyer [757 KB]
[757 KB]