Council Resolution

of 26 November 2001

on consumer credit and indebtedness

(2001/C 364/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

1. NOTES that the proportion of consumption financed by credit in all its forms is constantly increasing;

2. NOTES that this growth in credit, which far exceeds GDP, contributes to the growth of the latter;

3. CONFIRMS its attachment to the implementation of an internal financial services market and harmonisation of legislation in this field, with a high level of consumer protection;

4. NOTES that both such harmonisation of legislation concerning cross-border retail financial operations and the introduction of a single currency and the development of new technologies also have the aim and consequence of developing cross-border credit operations;

5. NOTES that while credit is a driving force for economic growth and the welfare of consumers, it also constitutes a risk for credit-providers and a threat of additional cost and insolvency for a growing number of consumers;

6. NOTES that over-indebtedness affects a significant and growing number of European consumers in all the Member States;

7. NOTES that such over-indebtedness is in the majority of cases due to increasing uncertainty regarding the occurrence and predictability of variations in income;

8. NOTES that, while over-indebtedness does not consist solely of debts linked to credit, it is in most cases linked to the existence of credit, and consumer credit in particular;

9. NOTES that information on indebtedness and over-indebtedness, despite the work done by the Commission, nevertheless remains inadequate, in particular owing to the lack of a systematic study of over-indebtedness, resulting from the incomparability of data, where such data are available in the Member States, and the lack of a harmonised definition of over-indebtedness;

10. NOTES that ten European Union Member States currently have specific legislation concerning the collective settlement of debts governing the social, legal and economic treatment of over-indebted consumers, whereas ordinary debt collection procedures continue to apply in the other Member States;

11. NOTES that divergences as regards both the preventive and the social, legal and economic treatment of over-indebtedness in the Member States could therefore give rise to considerable disparities both between European consumers and between credit providers;

12. NOTES that, taking into account both the European Community's desire to develop cross-border activities relating to financial services and the growing scale of the phenomenon of indebtedness and over-indebtedness, consideration could be given at Community level to complementing the measures to promote the development of cross-border credit with measures to prevent over-indebtedness throughout the one credit cycle;

13. TAKES NOTE of the Commission's intention, following the studies and hearings carried out, of proposing, in the context of the revision of the Directive on consumer credit, a certain harmonisation of preventive measures concerning the rules on information for debtors, the responsibility of credit providers, compensation and costs if contracts are not fulfilled and the role of credit intermediaries or agencies;

14. CONSIDERS that any European cooperation on the study and prevention of over-indebtedness needs to be based on regular and precise information of both a statistical and an economic, legal and sociological nature, which could draw, in particular, on the statistics collected in the context of the work carried out with regard to indicators concerning poverty and social exclusion and those concerning income and living conditions;

15. INVITES the Member States and the Commission to consider as soon as possible ways and means of monitoring the development of consumer indebtedness and over-indebtedness within the internal market through an exchange of information at European level, particularly as regards the level of indebtedness and best practice;

16. INVITES the Commission to continue working towards these objectives.