All of the countries within the Luxembourg Group have accepted the Consumer Protection Acquis and none have requested derogations or transitional periods. Decisions on the opening of negotiations with countries in the Helsinki Group will need to be taken during the French Presidency. I am less concerned about transposition where the candidates are making specific commitments which we can verify, than by the need for effective implementation of the Community directives. Twinning in fields like market surveillance and standardisation has also been helpful. But it is clear that we have to ensure that the enforcement arrangements in the candidate countries are effective and that the consumers have access to justice.
More work needs to be done before the date of accession.
I am also concerned to see effective consumer representation in the candidate countries. In the Member States we have a large number of consumer representation bodies which look after consumer interests. There is less of a tradition of this in the candidate countries. We have also held seminars in Brussels of consumer bodies from the candidate countries. This year is the third year the consumer organisations in the candidate countries have been invited to attend the annual assembly of European Union Consumer Associations.