Today, Verena Jourová, Justice and Consumers Commissioner, brought together important stakeholders working on improving consumer rights in the EU in order to launch a discussion on a New Deal for Consumers. In addition, the European Commission announced in its Work Program 2018 to enhance judicial enforcement of consumer rights and out-of-court redress as well as to facilitate coordination and effective action by national consumer authorities. Such changes of existing consumer law in terms of its modernization and proper enforcement are expected to come into force next spring.
Verena Jourová commented on this: "With the New Deal for Consumers, I want to reshape EU consumer rules to make them fit for the 21st century still during my mandate. I want to make them fit for the digital age: consumers should have the same rights online, as they do offline. I want to find ways for groups of consumers to defend their interests. Their claims will be strong together, especially when they face large companies. Finally, consumer authorities should have the power to better enforce consumer rules; they need to be equipped with penalties that are deterrent to ensure that companies respect them. We have no time to waste; that's why we need all hands on deck to jump through the legislative hurdles."
Source: European Commission
More information and the Commission's Work Program 2018