Council Resolution of 28 June 1999 on Community consumer policy 1999 to 2001
Date: 1999-06-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: consumer information, consumer movement, consumer protection

21.7.1999

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 206/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 28 June 1999

on Community consumer policy 1999 to 2001

(1999/C 206/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

initiatives, such as the consumer policy action plan 1999
to 2001;

Having regard to the Commission communication on the
consumer policy action plan 1999 to 2001,

Whereas:

(5) the Vienna European Council on 11 and 12 December
1998 stated in its conclusions on the internal market
that consumer protection should be one of the future
priorities of the Council;

(1) the Community,

in order

to ensure a high level of
consumer protection and to promote the interests of
consumers,
shall contribute to protecting the health,
safety and economic interests of consumers as well as
to promoting their right to information, education and
to organise themselves
to safeguard their
interests;

in order

(2) consumer protection requirements shall be taken into
account in defining and implementing other Community
interdependence
policies
between
and
activities
consumer policy initiatives is growing as is the inter-
relationship between consumer interests and those of
other stakeholders of the society;

and activities; whereas
policies
other

the
and

these

(3) the past achievements of Commmunity consumer policy
legislation as well as political
include both important
orientations
the Council which have
contributed substantially to a high level of consumer
protection and to the promotion of the economic and
legal interests of consumers;

adopted by

(6) Community consumer policy has to respect the principles
of subsidiarity and proportionality in accordance with
the Treaty establishing the European
Article 5 of
the
Community; whereas
Community should support and supplement the policy
pursued by the Member States, and Member States may
adopt or maintain in force more stringent provisions (cid:151)
which must be compatible with the Treaty (cid:151) to ensure a
higher level of consumer protection;

consumer policy of

the

(7) the choice of measures to be taken at Community level to
safeguard or establish the required high level of consumer
protection should be based on the analysis of,
in
particular, the objectives to be achieved, the nature and
scope of the issues to be covered, the potential costs and
benefits of action or lack of action and the developments
on the market in order to make the best choice between
the different legislative and non-legislative solutions;

(4) Decision No 283/1999/EC of

the European Parliament
and of the Council of 25 January 1999 establishing a
general framework for Community activities in favour of
consumers (1) states in the preamble that it is necessary to
evaluate past achievements and draw up a policy priority
programme
framework,
including an action plan and calls in Article 3 for
the
consistency
Community activities and projects under
this general
framework and the other Community programmes and

complementarity

to implement

between

general

and

this

of

(1) OJ L 34, 9.2.1999, p. 1.

(8) under certain circumstances self-regulation by business or
voluntary agreements between consumer organisations
and business can be an appropriate complement or,
in
specific cases, ann alternative to legislation in particular
as they allow for faster reactions to market developments;
whereas such self-regulation and agreements must meet
the objective of a high level of consumer protection,
to information and not
rights
safeguard consumers’
the proper enforcement
restrict competition; whereas
and monitoring
voluntary
effectiveness and
agreements are
whereas
voluntary
failure
agreements may require th adoption of binding rules;

self-regulation
their
self-regulation

of
essential

and

and

for

of

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Official Journal of the European Communities

21.7.1999

(9) with regard to food safety, the Council’s consumer policy
should continue to be guided by the Declaration by the
Luxembourg European Council of 12 and 13 December
inter alia as regards the completion of certain
1997,
aspects of Community legislation,
its simplification, the
need to cover effectively and coherently the entire chain
of
food production and the optimisation of Member
States’ controls and strengthening of their coordination
with the Commission;

Union and prepare and submit a proposal for a hori-
zontal framework Directive on food law;

3. to be in the future even more determined to be guided
by the precautionary principle in preparing proposals
for
consumer-related
activities and develop as a priority clear and effective
guidelines for the application of this principle;

legislation and in its other

(10) the development of European standards can be of great
benefit for consumers, in particular with regard to their
is generally agreed that
health and safety; whereas it
consumer
closely
involved in the standardisation process and have sufficient
access to the necessary expertise in order to play their full
part in this process;

representatives

be more

should

(11)

the

the globalisation of markets,
rapidly increasing
complexity of goods and services and manufacturing
information and
processes and the rapid spread of
communication technologies provide clear benefits to
the
and
therefore present challenges for Community consumer
policy and its implementation and enforcement;

also pose potential

consumer, but

risks

(12) these developments require even better cooperation and
coordination between Member States and the Commission
and a more dynamic role for the Community in defending
the interests of the European consumer in relevant inter-
national fora,

I. WELCOMES the Commission action plan 1999 to 2001 and

the analysis and proposed action contained therein.

II. CALLS UPON THE COMMISSION:

1. (cid:151) to implement its action plan 1999 to 2001 whilst
taking account of Decision No 283/1999/EC, and in
particular Article 3 calling for consistency of and
complementarity between the different Community
activities, projects, programmes and initiatives, as
well
relevant political orientations
adopted by the Council,

as of

the

services

financial

4. to continue its active policy aiming at the maintenance
of market
transparency and market balance in the
interests of the consumer, in particular in the area of
the information society, electronic commerce, distance
selling,
to
competition of public utilities; continue as part of
this policy to work on the protection of
the legal
interests of consumers including in particular their
easy access to redress procedures taking into account
point I(3) of Council Resolution of 19. January 1999
on the Consumer Dimension of
the Information
Society (1);

opening

and

the

5. to review in this

existing Community
context
consumer protection legislation and propose new
provisions where necessary;

6. to take account in this context, where appropriate, of

particularly vulnerable consumer groups;

A more powerful voice for the consumer

7.

to contribute to the strengthening of consumer organi-
inter alia, by
sations at European and national
disseminating best practice and by reinforcing the
role of the consumer representatives at Community
level;

level,

8. to examine on which issues and under which circum-
stances the dialogue between consumer organisations
and business should be encouraged; promote, where
appropriate, voluntary agreements between them and
keep Member States informed thereof;

9. to contribute to improving the effectiveness of

the
involvement of consumer representatives in the stan-
dardisation process;

(cid:151) to put a specific emphasis on the following issues:

Integration

Health and safety; economic and legal interests

2. to pay particular attention to the review of

the
Directive on the general safety of products and to
the related analysis of the safety of services as well
as to the follow-up to the Commission’s green paper
on the general principles of food law in the European

10. to ensure that consumer protection requirements are
fully understood and are taken into account in the
definition and implementation of other Community
policies,
sustainable
consumption patterns, as well as in any review of
consumer-related legislation,
in order to develop a
coherent and comprehensive consumer policy;

the development of

such as

(1) OJ C 23, 28.1.1999, p. 1.

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International relations

11.

trade

to take greater account in international bilateral and
multilateral
policy
requirements with regard to consumers’ economic
and legal interests and particularly consumers’ health
and safety;

consumer

relations

of

12. to ensure that consumer policy requirements are

addressed in the enlargement process.

III. CALLS UPON THE COMMISSION AND THE MEMBER STATES

13. to further develop their dialogue on consumer policy
effectiveness of
with the aim of
consumer policy measures they take by, where appro-
priate, coordinating the main lines of
the national
consumer policies and/or
the specific activities of
those policies.

enhancing the

example cooperation in research,
assessment and market surveillance.

information,

risk

IV. CALLS UPON THE MEMBER STATES

15. to ensure, as appropriate, also at national
consumer protection requirements are
account in other relevant policies;

level that
taken into

16. to

strengthen,

national
consumer organisations and improve their consultation
at national level;

appropriate means,

by

17. to contribute to enabling the effective participation of
standardisation

representatives

the

in

consumer
process.

14. to

the

continue

improving

development

and
enforcement of Community legislation in particular
through better administrative cooperation and coor-
dination with and between the authorities of
the
Member States responsible for the development and
including for
enforcement of consumer

legislation,

V. REAFFIRMS its

intention to further develop an active
consumer policy at Community level along the lines
referred to above,
to take account also of consumer
policy requirements in its decisions on other Community
policies and AGREES to assess on a regular basis the
progress made in the follow-up to this Resolution.