CONSUMER POLICY

Between 14 and 17 March European Commissioner for Consumer policy Neven Mimica undertook his first Consumer Mission. The objective of the mission was to engage with consumers, national authorities, consumer organisations and retailers to work together to strengthen consumer culture to the benefit of consumers but also the economy as a whole.

Commissioner Mimica said. "It was a great honour to undertake my first consumer mission here in Greece. In my meetings with consumer representatives and the administration I emphasised that in these difficult times consumer policy is more than ever essential. Consumers need to be protected from rogue traders and be confident that every euro they spend is a euro well spent. I also wanted to underline to traders that respecting consumer rights is good for consumers and good for their business."

In Greece Commissioner Mimica met with consumer organisations, the Minister of Development and Competitiveness, responsible for consumer policy, the Minister for Energy and the Consumer Ombudsman. In Thessaloniki at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) conference to mark European Consumer Day the Commissioner delivered the keynote address on the role of Consumer policy in supporting social inclusion. The Commissioner also addressed the Conference on "Getting Consumers Digital" organised by the Greek Presidency in Athens.

The central message of the mission is that consumers should be at the heart of the recovery. For consumer rights legislation to deliver its full benefits, consumers have to know what their rights are and actively use them in practice. The national consumer rights awareness campaign for Greece is the European Commission turning that message into a reality.

The consumer awareness campaign will run in eight 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. The awareness raising campaign aims to inform citizens about key consumer rights such as the right to return products within two weeks; the right to have faulty products repaired or replaced; the right to fair and transparent information on the products they buy and the right to be provided with an e-mail address to turn to in case of consumer complaints.

In Greece the campaign will run in both print and electronic media. The European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Greece will act as a contact point for the campaign and give consumers advice as to where they can best turn for assistance if they have a problem.