European consumer center

The European Consumer Centers ( EVZ ), French Center européen des consommateurs ( CEC ), English European Consumer Center ( ECC ) are a Europe-wide network of a total of 29 information offices, some with regional branches, which exist in every member state of the European Union as well as Norway and Iceland . The common center for Germany and France - German name: Center for European Consumer Protection ( ZEV ), French name: Center Européen de la Consommation ( CEC ) - is based in Kehl, Germany, right on the French border near Strasbourg . The European Consumer Centers inform consumers about the opportunities and risks of the European single market , especially when buying goods and services across borders, and help with problems with traders from another EU member state. The centers and the network of European Consumer Centers (ECC network) as an umbrella organization, unlike consumer organizations, are not non-governmental organizations and, unlike the consumer centers, are not independent, but were set up by the European Commission and are jointly managed by it and the Member States (plus Norway and Iceland).

history

The network of European consumer centers was created in January 2005 by merging two networks of official consumer protection agencies: the network for the extrajudicial settlement of consumer disputes (EEJ-Net; abbreviation for Network for the extra-judicial settlement of consumer disputes) and the network of European consumer information points (Euroguichets).

The Euroguichets have been responsible for informing, advising and representing consumers in the common internal market since 1992 . The EEJ-Net, founded in 2001, consisted of clearing houses that helped consumers to settle legal disputes with companies in other EU countries by means of arbitration .

Since 2006 there has been at least one national contact point of the ECC network in each member state. There are currently 29 centers, one in each Member State plus Norway and Iceland. Depending on the country, they are housed in different institutions (ministries or other government agencies; independent associations, etc.).

tasks

The European Consumer Centers supports consumers in using the European single market :

• Publications on rights and obligations when purchasing goods and services across borders;
• Answering direct questions from consumers and providers;
• Support and care for consumers in the event of complaints;
• if necessary, assisting consumers in litigation.

To promote out-of-court settlement of disputes, the ECC work closely with national arbitration bodies and support the competent national authorities in developing new alternative dispute settlement procedures .

In addition, the ECC collects information about current consumer problems and processes it for statistical and political purposes. They carry out comparative legal analyzes and cross-border studies on various consumer issues and forward the results to the legislators and national enforcement authorities.

The ECC-Net also works with other pan-European networks such as FIN-NET (financial services), SOLVIT (internal market), the Enterprise Europe Network, the Europe Direct network and the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters .

Working method

Should consumers themselves not be able to reach an agreement with the foreign dealer from whom they purchased a product or service, they can contact the ECC in their home country. The ECC can be reached by phone, fax or email, in some centers the employees are also available for personal discussions.

The contacted ECC translates the necessary documents, if necessary, and forwards them to the center of the country in which the dealer is based. The ECC there tries to reach an amicable agreement with the provider in the case, but cannot take legal action.

numbers

2010 : In 2010 , the network of European Consumer Centers was available free of charge with advice and action in more than 71,000 cases. This means that the number of processes processed has increased by 15 percent compared to 2009. Every third complaint was directed against a transport service provider, of which around 60 percent were against airlines. Online business accounted for more than half of all complaints handled by the network in 2010 (56.2%).

2008 : The ECC-Net counted over 62,000 consumer contacts in 2008, of which 54% were complaints and 46% requests for information. Most of the complaints in 2008 related to transport services (33.23%), recreational and cultural offers (25.42%) as well as restaurants, hotels and other places to stay (13.38%). Together, the three areas accounted for around 72% of all complaints received by the ECC.

2007 : The centers of the ECC-Net came together in 2007 to around 55,000 consumer contacts. Most of the complaints handled by the ECC concerned contractual clauses (25%), the product or service (22.4%) and delivery problems (20%). 22% of all registered disputes concerned transport services and especially air travel, followed by recreational and cultural offers (just under 12%) and audiovisual services (just under 10%). More than half of all complaints were related to online trading.

background

The EU Commission's consumer policy aims to provide consumers with better and more comprehensive information about their rights and obligations and to promote cross-border trade in the internal market . Consumer spending makes up 60% of the gross domestic product in the EU internal market , but only one in five EU citizens is aware that the same basic consumer rights apply in all Member States; and only a third of the EU population knows they have guarantees across the EU about the safety of products they buy.

While the main consumer rights are the same across the EU, the laws of the Member States still differ significantly in some areas. This legal fragmentation confuses consumers as they may enjoy different legal statuses depending on the Member State.

The lack of confidence that their rights outside their own country are protected across the EU seems to be one of the main obstacles to the fact that EU citizens still rarely shop outside their own country. Just under 12% of consumers in the EU buy goods or use services there outside of their country of residence each year, and this mostly on vacation.

With the help of the ECC-Net, the EU Commission wants to strengthen consumer confidence and ensure that consumer rights are enforced in all member states.

Web links

• Website of the European Consumer Center in Germany
• Website of the Franco-German Center for European Consumer Protection
• Website of the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers of the European Commission
• ECC-Net website
• List of all European consumer centers (PDF; 178 kB)
• Last annual report of the ECC-Net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ PDF
3. ↑ Press portal Europe On site: Air traffic and online businesses recorded the most consumer complaints in 2010  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .