Recent years have seen considerable growth in cross-border shopping by consumers of the 25 Member States of the EU, according to the study, Special Eurobarometer 252 - Consumer protection in the Internal Market. Published by the European Commission, this study sets out to profile European consumers as far as cross-border shopping is concerned, as well as out to gauge perception about consumer rights within the internal market.
According to the study's findings, around 26% of European citizens have purchased goods or services from outside their own country in the last 12 months, with the majority of these having done so because of holidays or business trips.
The study also reveals that e-commerce is the main way of making distance purchases - around 27% of consumers bought goods or services electronically over the last 12 months. However confidence amongst European consumers in e-commerce isn't that high where cross-border transactions are concerned, with on average just 6% of consumers surveyed saying that they had bought goods or services from another EU country using e-commerce.
When it comes to their rights, the study shows that 1 in 4 Europeans considers their rights as a consumer are not sufficiently guaranteed, showing that EU consumer protection policy still has a long way to go.
As far as Portugal is concerned, the study shows the Portuguese consumers make the fewest cross-border purchases, with just 11% of those surveyed answering that they had bought goods or services from another EU country in the last twelve months. The study also concludes that the Portuguese are the least prolific users of e-commerce in the EU, with only 2% of Portuguese consumers having made e-commerce purchases in the last twelve months.
Consult:
- Special Eurobarometer 252 - Consumer Protection in the Internal Market, European Commission, September 2006 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=404873
Further information:
- Information society https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=118259
- EU - European Union https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=66653
