CONSUMER POLICY

Consumer Policy Commissioner Neven Mimica visited Rome on 7 July in an effort to improve consumer protection both in Italy and in Europe, under the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. His mission focused on increasing consumer awareness of their rights and on ensuring effective enforcement of these rights.

To increase consumers' awareness of their rights, Commissioner Mimica launched the European Commission's Consumer Rights Campaign, which will run in print, outdoor media and points of sale in the country. Earlier this year, he kicked off the campaign in Greece and Bulgaria. The awareness raising initiative is also taking place in some other EU Member States, where the latest edition of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard shows that there is room for improvement.

Commissioner Mimica raised the issue of enforcement in his keynote speech at the conference “EU Cooperation for enforcement of consumer legislation" organised by the Italian Presidency of the Council. As a functioning single market requires consumer rights to be equally respected across the EU, the Commissioner is willing to work with Member States to make sure this is actually the case. The Commission continues to foster co-ordination of Member States in this important area, in order to make consumer rights really effective on the ground.

You can read his full speech here.