The European Commission welcomes the entry into application of the new EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation. As of today, the new rules start to apply across the EU, building upon the already-existing cooperation mechanism. They aim to improve how the Commission and Member State authorities can work together to stop bad practices against consumers, give stronger powers to authorities to detect irregularities and to take action. 

Vice President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová said:  "The EU has the strongest consumer protection rules in the world. Now, we are stepping up the enforcement. I call on the Member States to vigorously apply the new tools. Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, said: "These new rules mark another milestone for the protection of European consumers. The Commission and national consumer protection authorities are now better equipped with a whole series of new enforcement powers and cooperation means. Whatever the place of establishment and the size of traders operating across the Single Market, it will become tougher to escape rules.” 

With the support of this regulation, national consumer authorities will be able to order websites and social media accounts to correct, obscure or remove scams. They will also have the power to carry out test-purchases and mystery shopping, as well as investigate financial flows to find rogue traders and online fraud. The new rules will make it easier for the Commission to alert national authorities and coordinate the national authorities’ action to tackle consumer issues affecting a majority of EU consumers.

Thanks to a new IT system supported by the Commission’s Internal Market Information (IMI) tool, European Consumer Centres, consumer and trade organisations will be able to formally post alerts about emerging market threats. This information will become directly useable by enforcement authorities.