To mark the 10th anniversary of European Consumer Day, which is celebrated worldwide on 15 March, several activities are planned in the European Union (EU), including the annual conference on the day's theme, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), in liaison with the European Commission and the Czech Presidency of the EU Council. This year, the European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Meglena Kuneva, and Alexandr Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic with responsibility for European Affairs, will join the Mario Sepi, Chair of the EESC to open the conference.
The European Commissioner will also talk on-line with consumers across the EU who want to discuss their rights and their concerns. The debate will take place this afternoon from 3pm to 4.30pm, Central European Time. Questions may be submitted in any one of 12 languages (German, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish) with answers given in the same language. Consumers can also submit questions in advance by e-mail to mailto:sanco-webchat-13-03@ec.europa.eu SANCO-WEBCHAT-13-03@ec.europa.eumailto:sanco-webchat-13-03@ec.europa.eu.
At a national level, it should be noted that the Council of Ministers of 11 March approved five pieces of legislation on consumer protection, with the following objectives: strengthening consumer rights in relation to essential public services through call centres, in particular prohibiting periods of waiting in line in excess of 60 seconds and mandating the provision of an option to cancel the service; creating a telematic network for handling and managing complaints entered by consumers into complaint books; improving child safety in play and recreation areas; defining rules for consumer credit contracts between 200 euros and 75,000 euros, which, among others provisions, set out a system of maximum rates; and altering retirement savings products, eliminating the cost of transferring products to other financial entities or capping these costs at 0.5%.
Consult:
- Comunicado do Conselho de Ministros de 11 de Março de 2009 http://www.portugal.gov.pt/Portal/PT/Governos/Governos_Constitucionais/GC17/Conselho_de_Ministros/Comunicados_e_Conferencias_de_Imprensa/20090311.htm
- Conference ''European Consumer Day 2009 - 10th anniversary - 13 March 2009'' http://eesc.europa.eu/sections/int/index_en.asp?id=1470007inten
Further information:
- EC - Consumer Affairs http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/index_en.htm
