Corrigendum : Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Monitoring consumer outcomes in the single market Second edition of the Consumer Markets Scoreboard {SEC(2009) 76}
Date: 2009-01-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer information, consumer policy, consumer protection, services contract, single market, supplies contract

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 18.5.2009 
COM(2009) 25 final/2 

CORRIGENDUM : footnotes 2 and 8 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Monitoring consumer outcomes in the single market 
Second edition of the Consumer Markets Scoreboard 

{SEC(2009) 76} 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Monitoring consumer outcomes in the single market 
Second edition of the Consumer Markets Scoreboard 

Executive Summary 

This  communication  presents  the  results  of  the  second  edition  of  the  Consumer  Markets 
Scoreboard  and  complements  the  Commission's  broader  market  monitoring  exercise1  by 
providing  additional  information  on  the  malfunctioning  of  markets  from  a  consumer 
perspective.  The  main  objective  of  the  Scoreboard  is  to  identify  which  parts  of  the  internal 
market are not functioning well for consumers. The main findings of the Scoreboard are: 

•  Consumers are less satisfied and experience more problems with services than with goods 
markets. The most  problematic surveyed sectors are energy, transport (bus and rail)2 and 
banking services. Energy scores particularly badly in terms of switching, and is among the 
less  well  performing  sectors  in  terms  of  satisfaction  and  complaints.  Only  7%  of 
consumers switched energy providers over the past two years while less than two thirds of 
consumers are satisfied with their supplier. Bus and rail transport are the sectors consumers 
are least satisfied with and complain about a lot. In the banking sector switching is low and 
offers difficult to compare. The substantial variation in bank fees between Member States 
is not explained by differences in expenditure levels. Of the three sectors identified, energy 
is  the  one  on  which  consumers  spent  most  (5,7%  of  their  household  budget)  and  within 
energy,  electricity  takes  up  the  highest  part  of  consumer  spending  (2,1%).  Therefore  the 
retail  electricity  market  is  the  target  sector  for  a  follow  up  market  analysis  to  assess 
consumer problems in more detail. 

•  In  markets  with  higher  switching  rates,  for  example  car  insurance,  internet  and  mobile 
telephony,  consumers  are  less  likely  to  report  price  increases.  Facilitating  the  switching 
process should be a policy priority in the most important retail services.  

•  While  online  shopping  is  becoming  more  widespread,  cross-border  e-commerce  is  not 
developing  as  quickly  as  the  domestic  side  as  a  result  of  cross-border  barriers  to  online 
trade. The e-commerce report published alongside this Scoreboard draws a detailed picture 
of the current state of e-commerce in the EU. The retail market report in 2009 will include 
a  chapter  on  online  retailing  which  will  take  stock  of  various  initiatives  dealing  with 
geographical  market  segmentation  online  and  describe  the  hurdles  consumers  encounter 
when shopping online across borders and the efforts underway to address these.  

1 
2 

SEC(2008) 3074 – Market Monitoring: State of Play and Envisaged Follow-Up. 
The Commission has already taken action in these two problematic areas of transport. Regulation (EC) 
No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers' 
rights  and  obligations  will  enter  into  force  in  December  2009.  The  Commission  has  also  recently 
adopted  the  Proposal  for  a  Regulation  on  the  rights  of  passengers  in  bus  and  coach  transport  and 
amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for 
the enforcement of consumer protection laws - COM(2008) 817.  

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•  Effective  enforcement  and  redress  are  essential  for  markets  to  function  well:  evidence 
shows  major  differences  between  Member  States  and  room  for  improvement  of 
enforcement and redress mechanisms. The Commission will address these issues through a 
Communication on enforcement and a follow-up to the Green Paper on collective redress.  

•  More quality data are needed to develop a solid consumer evidence base. The Commission 
will  further  develop  the  methodology  for  collecting  average  prices  of  comparable  and 
representative  goods  and  services.  It  will  also  work  at  a  harmonised  methodology  to 
classify consumer complaints.  

The current evidence on consumer complaints, prices, satisfaction, switching and safety, is 
still not enough to draw definite conclusions, but the following observations can be made:  

The satisfaction data show less satisfaction with services than with goods markets. Services 
involve  more  complex  contracts  and  customer  relations  and  a  changing  consumer 
environment  when  markets  are  liberalised.  The  consumers  using  bus  and  rail  transport 
services  experience  least  satisfaction  and  most  problems:  less  than  half  of  consumers  are 
satisfied with these services and about one in four experienced problems. Overall satisfaction 
is  also  low  for  fixed  telephony,  postal  services  and  energy  (electricity  and  gas  supply). 
Main  drivers  of  dissatisfaction  in  these  markets  are  the  price  levels,  the  attractiveness  of 
commercial offers, the ease of purchase, and customer mindedness. 

complaints 

The complaints data available, despite comparability problems, also indicate a high number 
communication 
of 
(telecommunications and postal services), and the group that includes banking services and 
insurance.  

services  markets, 

transport, 

especially 

the 

in 

Evidence on switching shows that banking services (bank accounts) and energy (electricity 
and  gas  supply)  are  particularly  problematic  in  terms  of  comparability  of  offers,  ease  of 
switching and actual switching. Only 9% of users of current accounts changed banks, 7% of 
consumers switched gas supplier and 8% electricity provider. These rates are low compared to 
25% who switched car insurance. 

The available price data are not sufficient to properly monitor the internal market. Much of 
the  data  available  at  present  is  experimental,  but  a  tentative  analysis  of  available  prices 
nevertheless  shows  unexplained  cross  border  variations  in  a  number  of  goods  and  services: 
bank  fees,  some  high-tech  products  (DVD  players  and  blank  CDs),  some  food  products 
(coffee,  natural  yoghurt,  olive  oil,  ice  cream,  orange  juice,  black  tea,  jam,  tinned  tuna), 
washing machine powder, and broadband access.  

Cross-border retail trade is stalling. The proportion of consumers shopping cross-border has 
not increased since 2006, while the proportion of retailers selling across borders has declined. 
Nevertheless, while 25% of consumers have shopped cross-border in the last 12 months, 33% 
are  considering  doing  so  in  the  next  year.  If  harmonised  consumer  regulations  were  put  in 
place across the EU, 49% of retailers would be interested in selling cross-border. This would 
be a significant improvement compared with the 20% that currently sell cross-border. Online 
shopping is becoming more widespread but cross-border e-commerce is not developing as fast 
as domestic online shopping. 

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The  percentage  of  consumers  who  feel  adequately  protected  by  existing  measures  varies 
considerably between Member States. In 2008, half of Europeans are confident that existing 
measures protect consumers well. Moreover, consumers seem to experience difficulties when 
trying to solve a problem or when seeking redress. About half of European consumers who 
made a complaint were not satisfied with the way their complaint was dealt with. Only four in 
ten consumers find it easy to resolve disputes with sellers and providers  through alternative 
dispute resolution and only three in ten find it easy to resolve disputes through courts. These 
figures are slightly lower than in 2006. 

1. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

2. 

4. 

5. 

INTRODUCTION 

On  29  January  2008,  the  Commission  adopted  the  Communication  ‘Monitoring 
consumer  outcomes  in  the  single  market:  the  Consumer  Markets  Scoreboard’3  and 
accompanying  Staff  Working  Document4,  the  first  edition  of  the  Scoreboard.  The 
initiative  to  monitor  how  the  internal  market  is  performing  for  consumers  results 
from the Single Market Review5 which called for reconnection with EU citizens, for 
policies to take better account of citizens’ concerns, and for policymaking to be more 
evidence-based and driven by a better understanding of real outcomes for consumers. 

In its conclusions on the Single Market Review of 25 February 2008, endorsed by the 
European  Council  in  its  conclusions  of  13/14  March  2008,  the  Competitiveness 
Council ‘welcomed the Commission’s intention to develop with the Member States a 
Consumer Markets Scoreboard and new consumer price data’. 

On  18  November  2008,  the  European  Parliament  adopted  a  report  endorsing  the 
methodology  and  indicators  and  calling  for  additional  evidence  on  consumer 
empowerment, such as literacy and skills. It also underlined the importance of close 
cooperation with Member States and communication of the results to a wider public.  

MONITORING CONSUMER OUTCOMES 

In  the  context  of  the  Single  Market  Review,  the  Commission  launched  a  broader 
market  monitoring  exercise  aimed  at  a  systematic  monitoring  of  markets  in  two 
phases. As due to the lack of data the consumer dimension is only partly  captured, 
the  Consumer  Markets  Scoreboard  can  contribute  to  better  integrate  the  consumer 
dimension in the market monitoring by providing more suitable data. At present, the 
Commission  launched  in-depth  analyses  in  four  sectors:  food  supply  chain,  retail 
sector, electrical goods and pharmaceutical industries. 

The Scoreboard was developed to monitor markets from a consumer perspective in 
two  phases:  a  screening  and  an  analysis  phase.  The  Scoreboard  is  also  designed  to 
become  a  rich  source  of  comparative  data  for  national  policymakers  in  the 
competition, consumer and other areas to help them identify market malfunctioning 
on a national basis. 

3 
4 
5 

COM(2008) 31. 
SEC(2008) 87. 
COM(2007) 724. 

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6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

3. 

11. 

In  the  first  section  the  Scoreboard  monitors  the  performance  of  markets  across  the 
economy  against  a  range  of  five  key  indicators.  This  should  identify  which  sectors 
have  the  greatest  risk  of  malfunctioning  in  terms  of  economic  and  social  outcomes 
for  consumers.  In  section  two,  indicators  are  presented  to  track  progress  in  retail 
market  integration.  The  third  section  of  the  Scoreboard  presents  data  for 
benchmarking the national consumer environment. 

Markets are also being monitored from the consumer perspective at national level. In 
Denmark,  an  annual  ‘Consumer  Condition  Index’  is  published  for  fifty-seven 
markets  which  are  rated  in  relation  to  each  other.  The  index  looks  into  trust, 
transparency  and  terms  of  complaints.  Based  on  this  methodology,  Norway 
developed  a  similar  ‘Consumer  Satisfaction  Index’  and  the  UK  a  ‘Consumer 
Conditions  Survey’.  France,  the  UK  and  Portugal  have  developed  comprehensive 
complaints  systems  for  policy-making  and  several  Member  States  (e.g.  Italy  and 
Belgium) have set up price observatories. 

The  first  edition  of  the  Scoreboard  contained  the  limited  data  available  at  the  time 
but was only an illustration of what the Scoreboard will become. The main finding of 
this first exercise was that the relevant, comparable, EU-wide data needed to assess 
whether the internal market is delivering for consumers was mostly lacking.  

A  report  on  e-commerce  accompanying  this  Scoreboard  sets  out  preliminary 
findings  on  cross-border  e-commerce  trends.  The  Commission  will  in  the  first 
semester  of  2009  assess  the  problems  consumers  face  resulting  from  a  lack  of 
transparency in retail financial services.  

In 2008, the Commission started in earnest to develop and collect consumer data and 
evidence  through  surveys  and  studies  and  in  collaboration  with  stakeholders  in 
Member States — national statistical offices, consumer policy makers, enforcement 
authorities and consumer organisations. Particular attention has been paid to assuring 
quality  of  data.  While  the  second  Scoreboard  presents  more  data  on  the  indicators, 
work  on  many  areas  (e.g.  prices,  complaints,  enforcement)  is  still  incomplete:  data 
are  not  yet  available  for  all  consumer  markets  and  are  sometimes  collected  using 
different  market  definitions,  indicators  need  to  be  further  developed  and  collection 
organised to take account of differences between national systems. At present, some 
Member  States  do  not  use  data  to  monitor  consumer  markets  and  have  difficulties 
aggregating data. Despite these difficulties, work in 2008 has delivered a sound basis 
for further progress. 

SECOND EDITION OF THE CONSUMER MARKETS SCOREBOARD 

The  second  edition  of  the  Scoreboard  confirms  the  value  of  the  evidence-based 
approach for indicating which markets may not function well for consumers. It also 
shows that more complete evidence is needed to assess all main consumer markets. 

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Part 1 — Screening consumer markets 

12. 

13. 

14. 

Five  indicators  —  complaints,  prices,  satisfaction,  switching  and  safety  —  help 
identify  the  consumer  markets  that  risk  malfunctioning.  No  single  indicator  is 
sufficient  —  only  by  looking  at  several  indicators  can  conclusions  be  drawn  about 
where further analysis is needed. Moreover, identifying a sector for further analysis 
is not a confirmation of market malfunctioning. The screening of consumer markets 
complements the screening exercise in the market monitoring framework. 

Consumer complaints are a key indicator of malfunctioning markets used extensively 
by national policymakers to identify problems quickly. Complaints are collected by 
national authorities in all Member States, but at present data on consumer complaints 
are  not  harmonised  and  do  not  allow  proper  comparison  between  markets  or 
countries.  The  Commission  held  a  public  consultation  on  developing  a  harmonised 
methodology for classifying consumer complaints6. Stakeholders were supportive of 
a voluntary methodology for classifying and reporting complaints addressed to third 
parties (thus excluding complaints sent to businesses). The Commission is working 
with  all  the  stakeholders  concerned  to  ensure  the  widest  possible  adoption  of  the 
methodology.  

Authorities from twenty-three Member States, Norway and Iceland provided data on 
consumer  complaints.  Despite  differences  in  collection  and  classification,  the 
aggregate  data  can  be  compared.  The  data  in  Figure  1  clearly  have  limitations  — 
responses varied considerably as to their completeness, and the level of aggregation 
is too high to distinguish individual consumer markets. However, it does indicate a 
strong common pattern that consumers report more problems in the services markets.  

6 

All individual responses are published on the DG SANCO website, accompanied by a synopsis paper - 
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consultations/consultations_en.htm. 

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Figure 1: Consumer complaints addressed to third parties — COICOP7. Main headings  

600000

500000

400000

300000

200000

2007

507828

303888

252211

206671

174844

169974

100000

51089

72194

2920

0

19071

18967

805

Co
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unic
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E
du

Recre
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Misc (in
Restaurants a
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nd hotels

n
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F
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F

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H
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Tra
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sp
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Clothing an
Alcoh
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Source: Member States and EEA authorities 

15. 

While  complaints  data  are  important  to  detect  malfunctioning,  the  absence  of 
complaints does not always mean that there are no problems. Figure 2 shows that in 
some  markets  consumers  have  a  low  tendency  to  complain  even  though  they 
experience  problems,  for  example,  in  bus  and  rail  and  some  food  markets  such  as 
fruit and vegetables. 

7 

Classification Of Individual COnsumption by Purpose. 

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Figure 2: Consumers reporting they experienced problems and made enquiries or complaints, 19 goods and 
services markets  

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Entert & Leisure

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ICT  equip

Electrical Hh Equip

Insur services

Retail Banking
Mobile T elephony

Air transp

Electricity

Cloths&Shoes

Water distr

New motor vehicles

Fixed T elephony

Postal services

Extra Urban T ransport

Urban T ransport

No-alcoh beverages

0

5

Meat

Fruit & Vegetables

10

15
%  of consumers who experienced problems

20

25

30

Source: IPSOS consumer satisfaction surveys 2006 and 2008 

16. 

17. 

Prices  are  among  consumers’  main  concerns  and  a  major  determinant  of  their 
welfare. Undue price divergence may be an indication of market malfunctioning and 
fragmentation.  While  price  differences  may  reflect  differences  in  costs  or  living 
standards,  consumer  preferences,  taxes,  tradability  or  non-tradability  of  products, 
they may also be a sign of internal market fragmentation or malfunctioning. 

Price data are available for a limited number of goods and services only8. Observed 
price  differences  between  countries  are  often  linked  to  differences  in  expenditure 
levels9.  But  there  are  some  products  for  which  observed  price  differences  do  not 
relate  to  expenditure  levels.  These  products  are:  some  high-tech  products  (DVD 
players  and  blank  CDs),  some  food  products  (coffee,  natural  yoghurt,  olive  oil,  ice 
cream,  orange  juice,  black  tea,  jam,  tinned  tuna),  washing  machine  powder,  bank 
fees, and broadband access. It should be noted however that some of the price data 
are research data collected by Eurostat that must be considered experimental at this 
stage. 

18. 

The available data are not yet sufficient to monitor the internal market properly; there 
is a need to increase the number of prices of products and services monitored and to 
improve data quality, in particular the comparability and the market representativity 

8 

9 

Indicative prices of sixty-six products and services were collected in an experimental research project 
carried out by Eurostat and national statistical offices of Member States, Iceland and Norway. Prices of 
cars, telecommunications, energy and bank accounts are also available from various sources. 
The  expenditure  level  is  used  here  as  a  proxy  of  actual  individual  consumption  which  is  the  total  of 
individual  goods  and  services  consumed  by  households  and  financed  from  both  public  and  private 
sources.  The  results  of  the  price  calculation  are  described  in  Section  1.2  of  the  Staff  Working  Paper 
accompanying this Communication. 

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19. 

of  price  data.  For  example,  there  are  almost  no  data  on  professional  services  even 
though  the  one  study10  conducted  by  the  Commission  show  significant  price 
variations  between  countries.  Transparent  price  data  will  also  demonstrate  that  the 
day-to-day concerns of citizens are being addressed. The Commission will work with 
national  statistical  offices  to  collect  and  publish  prices  in  future  years  for  a 
significant number of products across the Member States.  

Consumer satisfaction levels capture consumers' perceptions of choice, comparability 
of  prices  and  quality,  transparency,  trust  and  confidence.  Figure  3  shows  overall 
satisfaction with nineteen markets from data gathered in 2006 for services and 2008 
for  goods.  The  figure  shows  that  consumers  are  consistently  less  satisfied  with  the 
services than with the goods markets. This may reflect the greater complexity in the 
contractual relations and delivery of services compared to goods, where the value can 
be assessed before making the purchasing decision. The overall low satisfaction with 
bus  and  rail  transport  is  influenced  by  the  fact  that  consumers  experience  many 
problems  and  are  not  satisfied  with  prices,  the  ease  of  purchase  and  customer 
mindedness. Differences between Member States are considerably larger than those 
between markets. 

Figure 3: Overall satisfaction/dissatisfaction with 19 services and goods markets 

New mot or vehicles

Non-alcoholic beverages

Household electrical equipment

Meat

Ent ert ainment  and leisure goods

Clot hing and foot wear

ICT -equipment

Fruit s and veg.

Air transport

Mobile t elephony

Insurance services

Retail Banking

Wat er distribution

Gas supply

Electricity supply

Postal services

Fixed t elephony

79,9

77,8

77,1

76

75,8

74,8

74,5

70,4

66,1

65,9

64,4

63,1

60,2

57,9

57,6

52,9

52

Ext ra urban transport

Urban transport

45,6

44,5

10,3

9,4

1,6

18,2

0,8

1,3

1

21,4

21,4

22,8

0,9

22,8

0,8

1,5

24,2

23,5

1,7

27,7

3,5

4,1

3

4,6

5,4

30,4

30

32,6

32,3

34,4

4,4

5,3

6,9

8,4

37,7

37,1

40,2

39,6

44,1

46,1

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Percentages

Sat isfied

Dissatisfied

Neut ral

Source: IPSOS Consumer Satisfaction Surveys, 2006 and 2008  

20. 

In future Scoreboards, the satisfaction survey will be extended to cover all the main 
consumer markets in order to give a comparable (same-year) assessment. 

10 

COMP/2006/D3/003 – Conveyancing Services Markets, December 2007. 

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21. 

22. 

The ability to switch providers is an essential dimension of competition in a market 
economy. Switching exerts a positive effect only when its costs in terms of money, 
time, and effort are sufficiently low compared to the price of the service. Consumers 
can also only chose the best offer if they are able to understand and compare offers.  

Figure  4  shows  the  switching  rates  and  reported  net  price  changes  for  selected 
markets11. Third-party liability car insurance was the service where most consumers 
switched: a quarter of all policy holders changed providers during the past two years. 
Next  were  telecommunication  services:  internet  (22%),  mobile  phone  (19%)  and 
fixed-line telephone services (18%). On average, only 11% of users of retail banking 
services changed providers or products during the past two years; those most likely 
to change were the holders of mortgage and investment products (both 13%), while 
only  9%  changed  their  existing  accounts  and  10%  their  long-term  credit 
arrangement. Energy was the sector least likely to switch: 7% switched gas supplier 
and 8% electricity provider. 

Figure 4: Market mobility and price developments, by service area 

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70

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50

40

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20

10

0

-10

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0

gas 

electricity 

current bank account

long term loan

mortgage loans
home insurance

savings or investments

fixed telephone

car insurance

mobile telephone
internet 

5

10

15

20

25

30

%  of consumers who switched providers

Source: Flash Eurobarometer 243 — Consumers’ views on switching service providers 

23. 

24. 

The  majority  of  consumers  who  switched  reported  financial  benefits  from  the 
process. More importantly, in markets with higher switching, consumers as a whole 
are  less  likely  to  report  price  increases  (Figure  4).  Consumers  empowered  by 
switching help to improve the outcomes for all consumers. 

Ensuring that consumer goods and services are safe is a priority of consumer policy. 
A  survey12  showed  that  consumer  confidence  in  product  safety  is  generally  high. 
Almost half of all consumers think that only a small number of products are unsafe 
and a further 17% think that essentially all products are safe. On the other hand, 18% 
of  consumers  think  that  a  significant  number  of  products  are  unsafe.  In  Member 

11 
12 

Flash Eurobarometer 243 — Consumers’ views on switching providers. 
Special Eurobarometer 298 — Consumer protection in the internal market, 2008. 

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States  where  consumers’  perceptions  of  safety  are  positive,  retailers’  perceptions13 
also tend to be. The differences between Member States are significant, however. 

25. 

Sixteen  Member  States  are  currently  collecting  injury  and  accident  data  through  a 
common  system,  the  Injury  Database  (IDB).  Figure  5  shows  the  degree  to  which 
different product categories are involved in accidents in ten Member States (product 
categories  that  account  for  less  than  0.5%  are  not  displayed).  Among  consumer 
products,  the  categories  ‘land  vehicle  or  means  of  land  transport’  and  ‘equipment 
mainly used in sports / recreational activity’ rank highest. The actual percentages are, 
however,  rather  small  (7.7%  and  4.5%  respectively,  because  of  the  large  share  of 
unspecified products). 

Figure 5: Injuries by product involved in the accident — aggregated average for 10 Member States 

39,4

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Source: IDB — All injuries in Europe 

Part 2 — Tracking progress of retail market integration 

26. 

27. 

The completion of the retail internal market is an essential feature to meet Europe’s 
economic  challenges  and  deliver  tangible  benefits  for  citizens.  A  well-functioning 
internal market should offer consumers a wider choice of products, the best possible 
prices and, at the same time, a high level of consumer protection. 

The picture of cross-border retail trade is mixed. A quarter of European consumers 
have  made  a  cross-border  purchase  in  the  past  year  (about  the  same  as  in  2006). 
Seventy-five  percent14  of  retailers  sell  only  to  consumers  in  their  own  country 
(slightly more than in 2006). Although the proportion of consumers shopping cross-
border  has  not  increased,  a  growing  number  of  consumers  feel  confident  about 
shopping  cross-border.  Average  expenditure  on  cross-border  purchases 
is 
considerable (€737 per person per year).  The proportion of  retailers’ revenue made 
up  by  cross-border  sales  is  10  to  17%  depending  on  the  sales  channel,  which  is 
similar to 2006. Harmonised regulation across the EU could be one way to encourage 
retailers to sell cross-border. With such regulation, almost one out of two reports to 
be willing to sell cross-border, compared with 20% that currently sell cross-border. 
Clearly there is potential to increase the levels of cross-border trade in the near future 
if the obstacles can be identified and removed. 

13 

14 

Flash  Eurobarometer  224  —  Business  attitudes  towards  cross-border  sales  and  consumer  protection, 
2008. 
Excluding cross-border sales in shops. 

EN 

11 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
28. 

Figure  6  shows  that  the  prevalence  of  cross-border  activity  still  varies  significantly 
across  the  EU.  In  most  countries  where  many  consumers  shop  cross-border,  many 
retailers also sell cross-border, and vice versa. The fact that most retailers only sell to 
consumers  in  their  own  country,  and  that  just  7%  sell  to  six  or  more  European 
countries,  is  reflected  in  the  fact  that  8%  of  consumers  who  have  shopped  cross-
border  at  some  point  had  difficulties  when  they  tried  to  buy  goods  or  services  in 
another EU country because they did not live in that country. On average, retailers 
sell cross-border to only 1.3 EU countries. 

Figure 6: Consumers purchasing and retailers selling cross-border 

s
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g
a
t
n
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e
p

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

25

7
2
U
E

68

59

56

53

51

47

40

Consumers at least 1 CB purchase 
Retailers, sales to at least 1 other EU country

37

36

36

35

34

33

33

31

27

27

24

17

17

16

14

13

13

10

9

6

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Sources:  Special  Eurobarometer  298,  Consumer  protection  in  the  Internal  Market,  June  2008  &  Special 
Eurobarometer 205, Consumer protection in the internal market, March 2006 

29. 

E-commerce  is  becoming  more  widespread,  but  cross-border  e-commerce  is  not 
developing as quickly as the domestic side. Thirty-three percent of consumers have 
shopped  online  in  the  past  year,  compared  to  27%  in  2006.  This  growth  is  not 
reflected  in  the  figure  for  cross-border  shopping  over  the  internet,  which  is  stable 
(6%  in  2006  and  7%  in  2008).  A  separate  report  on  e-commerce  set  out  in  more 
detail the current state of online retail in the EU. 

Part 3 — Benchmarking national consumer policies  

30. 

31. 

Effective national consumer policies and institutions are essential to the functioning 
of  the  internal  market.  Benchmarking  outcomes  across  the  EU  helps  identify  best 
practice and boosts confidence and trust among operators, consumers and authorities 
that there is a level playing field. Free circulation of safe products and the protection 
of  consumers  from  rogue  traders  both  depend  on  the  effectiveness  of  enforcement 
and market surveillance in all Member States. Empowered consumers are key to the 
efficient  functioning  of  markets,  as  they  reward  suppliers  that  operate  fairly  and 
respond best to consumers’ needs.  

The  percentage  of  consumers  who  feel  adequately  protected  by  existing  measures 
varies considerably between Member States and was lower in 2008 than in 2006 in 
most countries. About half of Europeans are confident that existing measures protect 
consumers well. At present, consumers seem to experience difficulties when trying to 
solve  a  problem  or  when  seeking  redress.  About  half  of  European  consumers  who 
made  a  complaint  were  not  satisfied  with  the  way  their  complaint  was  dealt  with. 

EN 

12 

   EN 

 
 
Only four in ten consumers find it easy to resolve disputes with sellers and providers 
through  alternative  dispute  resolution  and  only  three  in  ten  find  it  easy  to  resolve 
disputes through courts. 

Figure 7: Percentage of consumers who feel adequately protected by existing measures 

74

73 72

70

66

61 61

61 60

56 54

53 52

52 51

50

50 48

45 45

41 40

39 39

35 35

2008

2006

31 30

25

13

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50

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Sources:  Special  Eurobarometer  298,  Consumer  Protection  in  the  Internal  Market,  June  2008  &  Special 
Eurobarometer 205, Consumer Protection in the Internal Market, March 2006 

32. 

4. 

33. 

34. 

The evidence gathered shows that enforcement and empowerment across the EU are 
far  from  uniform  and  that  most  countries  have  strong  and  weak  points.  However, 
care  is  needed  at  this  stage  when  interpreting  the  figures.  In  order  to  better 
understand  these  data,  the  Commission  intends  to  carry  out  a  major  survey  of 
empowerment in 2010.  

Next steps 

A  market  monitoring  tool  like  the  Consumer  Markets  Scoreboard  helps  the 
Commission  identify  where  markets  are  failing  consumers  and  complements  the 
broad  market  monitoring  exercise.  The  second  edition  identifies  some  of  the  weak 
points in the single market but also emphasises the need for further effort to deliver 
solid data so the Commission has timely and telling market information upon which 
it can act.  

Collaboration  with  Member  States  will  be  key  to  further  developing  the  evidence 
base  needed.  Comparing  consumer  outcomes  between  countries  and  benchmarking 
the  consumer  environment  at  national  level  are  an  important  part  of  delivering  an 
internal  market  that  works  for  consumers.  National  evidence  on  complaints,  prices 
and enforcement will bring greater transparency and clarity to the debate about how 
the  internal  market  is  functioning,  and  demonstrate  best  practice.  The  Commission 
will work with national experts in Member States committees, working groups and 
with national statistical offices and consumer organisations.  

35. 

Action points for 2009 include: 

•  A market study on the retail electricity market.  

•  A chapter on online geographical market segmentation in the retail market study 
which  will  analyse  the  problems  consumers  have  when  shopping  online  across 
borders. 

EN 

13 

   EN 

•  A  communication  on  enforcement  which  will  set  out  a  global  strategy  to  ensure 

the effective enforcement of the consumer acquis. 

•  Development  of  a  regular  collection  of  average  prices  of  comparable  consumer 

products and services by Eurostat and the national statistical offices.  

•  Development  of  a  voluntary  harmonised  methodology  to  classify  consumer 

complaints.  

•  Work 

to  develop  appropriate 
empowerment with national stakeholders.  

indicators 

to  measure  enforcement  and 

EN 

14 

   EN