A4-0355/96

Resolution on the Commission communication 'Action plan on consumer access to justice and the settlement of consumer disputes in the internal market' (COM(96)0013 - C4-0195/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission communication (COM(96)0013 - C4-0195/96),

- having regard to the Treaties establishing the European Communities, amended by the Treaty on European Union, in particular Articles 6 and 129a of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to the Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968 on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters ((OJ C 189, 28.7.1990, p. 1.)),

- having regard to Council Directive 84/450/EEC of 10 September 1984 relating to the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning misleading advertising ((OJ L 250, 19.9.1984, p. 17.)),

- having regard to Council Directive 85/577/EEC of 20 December 1985 to protect the consumer in respect of contracts negotiated away from business premises ((OJ L 372, 31.12.1985, p. 31.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 13 March 1987 on consumer redress ((OJ C 99, 13.4.1987, p. 203.)),

- having regard to the Rome Convention of 19 June 1980 on the law applicable to contractual obligations ((OJ L 266, 9.10.1980, p. 1.)),

- having regard to Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts ((OJ L 95, 21.4.1993, p. 29.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights and the opinion of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A4-0355/96),

A. whereas the advent of the internal market and the increased mobility of Community consumers in all parts of the Union has meant that purchases may be made by right in another Member State, economic operators have acquired the right to sell goods and services at a distance, and, above all, cross- border business transactions have expanded,

B. whereas, however, these opportunities and the exercise of these rights by consumers and economic operators give rise to a number of cross-border consumer disputes,

C. whereas these disputes, by their very nature, entail a series of problems such as the difficulty of bringing proceedings before a judge in the plaintiff's country and the difficulties inherent in assembling the evidence needed for the investigation, difficulties concerning notification abroad, the execution of the judgment in a country other than that in which the judge has delivered the sentence and anything else concerning the procedure to be followed; whereas these problems, in the final analysis, deter consumers from actually exercising their rights,

D. whereas a standard form, to be used to lodge less serious cross-border complaints, could be an appropriate way of providing consumers with all necessary information concerning the law applicable to the substance of the case, jurisdiction, the legal remedies available, and the possibilities for settlement out of court,

E. whereas, in addition to these problems, there is the main characteristic of typical consumer disputes, i.e. the fact that the economic value of the dispute is out of all proportion to the cost of legal proceedings,

F. having regard to the need to offer European citizens in general instruments to enable them to settle cross-border consumer disputes - even minor ones - at reasonable cost and with due guarantees,

G. whereas the best means of resolving cross-border disputes affecting consumers is to introduce standard documents enabling those disputes to be resolved,

H. whereas access to justice is at one and the same time a fundamental human right and a necessary precondition for guaranteeing legal certainty at both national and Community level,

I. whereas almost all the Member States make provision for voluntary consumer access to a whole range of out-of-court procedures dealing with consumer affairs, in addition to in-court procedures,

J. stressing the need for these procedures to meet minimum criteria guaranteeing the impartiality of the body passing judgment, the efficiency of the procedure and the publicizing and transparency of proceedings,

K. whereas consumers must be guaranteed the opportunity to bring proceedings in ordinary courts in accordance with the principle of efficiency and certainty of law, once all conciliation procedures out of court have been tried and have failed,

L. noting, moreover, that in almost all the Member States existing legal procedures have been modified with the introduction of new simplified and special procedures for consumers alone,

M. expressing its approval of the Commission's action plan,

N. whereas the legal basis for all initiatives envisaged in the action plan can only be Article 129a of the EC Treaty,

O. whereas Article 6 of the EC Treaty, as amended by the Treaty on European Union, sanctions the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality, which implies an obligation to guarantee consumers access to justice on an equal footing,

P. whereas the Member States should promote judicial cooperation in the European Union, inter alia by exploiting to the full the opportunities offered by Article K.1 of the TEU,

Q. whereas the measures envisaged in the action plan may be considered as complementing the proposal for a Directive on injunctions for the protection of consumers' interests ((OJ C 107, 13.4.1996, p. 3.)) and as underpinning the pilot projects already geared to promoting consumer access to justice,

R. whereas the scale of the problem of consumer access to justice is such as to justify Community action, since the objective cannot be achieved adequately by measures carried out by the Member States alone,

S. whereas a consistent operational framework should be laid down to facilitate consumer access to justice,

1. Calls on the Commission to take into consideration the general observations set out in this resolution;

2. Agrees with the Commission on the need to create a simplified European form for intra-Community disputes worth less than a certain amount, in order to facilitate access to legal and out-of-court procedures and calls on the Commission to introduce a European form in accordance with stages set out in the action plan;

3. Calls on the Commission to draft further proposals aimed at improving access to national court procedures for non-resident European citizens;

4. Calls on the Commission to shorten the trial period applying to the arrangements for access to in-court and out-of-court procedures set out in Annex I ('Indicative timetable concerning measures to be taken to implement the envisaged initiatives');

5. Welcomes the Commission's publication of the Guide to Legal Aid in the European Economic Area, which is available in all the Community languages and is distributed free of charge to anyone concerned;

6. Calls on the Commission to continue pilot projects which promote and foster cooperation between consumer organizations;

7. Considers that, as far as unlawful commercial behaviour is concerned, Member States should encourage consumer, professional, and manufacturers' associations to represent individual persons lodging complaints as well as granting these associations the right to institute proceedings in order to uphold the collective interest in the face of given illegal trading practices already covered in national law and, where applicable, the right to be consulted about the possibility of grouping together procedures on the same subject initiated against the same opposing party;

8. Calls on the Commission to keep Parliament informed about the progress made towards implementing the various stages envisaged in the action plan;

9. Calls on the Member States to take legal or administrative steps to help ensure that companies based in Member States and selling products or providing services on their territory have a permanent agent (for example their own office, a subsidiary, another company, an association, or an independent organization) which, acting in each instance for and on behalf of the company concerned, could employ out-of-court procedures in order to resolve such consumer complaints as might arise in connection with these companies' cross-border business transactions;

10. Calls on the Member States to make every effort to promote the creation of out-of-court procedures to settle disputes in consumer matters and to simplify further the formalities for access to them, without undermining the independence and impartiality of the bodies responsible or detracting from the efficacy and transparency of procedures; believes that the bodies in question should be set up and operate on the basis of consultation with consumer and trade organizations subject to official supervision;

11. Recognizes the importance of the existing contractual instruments on the subject, including the Brussels and Rome Conventions referred to above, but points out that these instruments are no longer enough to settle cross- border consumer disputes and, especially, the problems they raise;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and, for information, to the Council and the parliaments of the Member States.