REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS On the mid-term evaluation of the Consumer Programme 2014-2020
Date: 2019-11-07
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, administrative cooperation, consumer information, consumer law, consumer movement, consumer policy, product safety, single market

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 7.11.2019 COM(2019) 490 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS           On the mid-term evaluation of the Consumer Programme 2014-2020           {SWD(2019) 382 final}  
 
 
1.  INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 

Article  169  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union  requires  the  EU  to 
contribute  to  protecting  the  health,  safety  and  economic  interests  of  consumers  through 
actions in the field of consumer protection and also to take consumer protection requirements 
into  account  in  defining  and  implementing  other  Union  policies  and  activities.  This  can  be 
achieved as a part of the efforts to build a proper functioning internal market in which both 
consumers and business benefit equally. In addition, the EU may adopt measures to support, 
supplement and monitor the policy pursued at national level to promote consumers' rights to 
information, education and to organise themselves. 

The  EU  has  put  in  place  a  set  of  consumer  rights  and  policies  that  aim  to  achieve  this 
objective through either horizontal instruments or sector-specific legislation. Recent efforts to 
keep this framework up-to-date and fit to address evolving markets include the review of the 
Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation1 as well as the Fitness Check of Consumer and 
Marketing Law2, which led to the adoption in April 2018 of the New Deal for Consumers3.   

The  practical  realisation  of  these  priorities  is  underpinned  by  funding  from  the  EU  budget 
granted through the multi-annual Consumer Programme 2014-20204. The programme has an 
allocated amount of EUR 188.8 million for the years 2014-2020. It was adopted to support the 
implementation of the policy priorities set out in the European Consumer Agenda - Boosting 
Confidence and Growth5. Article 13(2) of the Regulation provides that the Commission shall 
submit  a  mid-term  evaluation  report  of  the  programme  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council.  

The  Regulation  sets  its  general  objective  as  being  to  "ensure  a  high  level  of  consumer 
protection,  to  empower  consumers  and  to  place  the  consumer  at  the  heart  of  the  internal 
market,  within  the  framework  of  an  overall  strategy  for  smart,  sustainable  and  inclusive 
growth.  The  Programme  will  do  so  by  contributing  to  protecting  the  health,  safety  and  the 
legal and economic interests of consumers, as well as to promoting their right to information, 
education and to organise themselves in order to safeguard their interests, and supporting the 
integration of consumer interests into other policy areas. The Programme shall complement, 
support and monitor the policies of Member States". 

The  programme  builds  on  the  actions  funded  under  the  previous  programme  covering  the 
period  2007-20136.  It  ensures  a  smooth  transition  and  a  continuation  of  the  multiannual 
measures  while  taking  into  account  the  mid-term  evaluation  of  the  previous  programme’s 
successes and areas requiring more attention.  

Since the end of 2014, the implementation of the 2014-2020 Consumer Programme also takes 
account of the guidance provided by the following Commission priorities: a deeper and fairer 

1    REGULATION  (EU)  2017/2394  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND  OF  THE  COUNCIL  of  12 
December  2017  on  cooperation  between  national  authorities  responsible  for  the  enforcement  of  consumer 
protection laws and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32017R2394&from=EN  
2     https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/swd2017208f1staffworkingpaperenv3p1889270.pdf  
3 http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-detail.cfm?item_id=620435  
4  The Consumer Programme 2014-2020 was established by Regulation (EU) No 254/2014 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32014R0254  
5 COM/2012/0225 final  
6 Decision No 1926/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 establishing a 
programme of Community action in the field of consumer policy (2007-2013) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3Al32052  

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internal  market,  a  connected  Digital  Single  Market,  and  a  more  resilient  Energy  Union. 
Furthermore, 
to 
sustainable  consumption/circular  economy  initiatives,  in  particular  in  the  context  of  the  EU 
Circular Economy Action Plan7. 

the  consumer-relevant  policy  contribution 

the  Programme  supports 

2.  SCOPE, PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY OF THE EVALUATION 

2.1. Scope and purpose of the evaluation 

The purpose of the mid-term evaluation of the Consumer Programme 2014-2020 is to review 
the  achievement  of  the  objectives  of  all  its  measures,  the  state  of  play  regarding  the 
implementation of the eligible actions set out in its Article 4 and the specific actions referred 
to  in  its  Annex  I.  This  evaluation  analyses  the  allocation  of  funds  to  the  beneficiaries,  the 
efficiency  of  the  use  of  resources  and  the  Programme's  European  added  value,  taking  into 
consideration developments  in  the area of consumer protection and other consumer-relevant 
EU  policies,  with  a  view  to  a  decision  on  the  renewal,  modification  or  suspension  of  the 
actions.  The  preliminary  findings  of  the  evaluation  have  been  taken  into  account  in  the 
preparation of the proposal for the Single Market programme for the next MFF8. 

The  evaluation  also  addresses  the  scope  for  simplification,  the  Programme's  internal  and 
external  coherence 
including  possible  synergies/complementarities  with  other  EU 
Programmes,  the  continued  relevance  of  all  objectives,  as  well  as  the  contribution  of  the 
measures to the Union priorities of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The longer-term 
impacts and the sustainability of effects of the Programme have been evaluated to the extent 
feasible  given  that  the  Programme  is  still  being  implemented  with  a  view  to  feeding  into  a 
decision  on  a  possible  renewal,  modification  or  suspension  of  a  subsequent  Programme  in 
terms of scope, nature and cost. 

The  evaluation  considers  the  implementation  of  the  Programme  in  all  EU  Member  States 
(taking account of the date of accession), as well as in Norway and Iceland. The evaluation 
period is the period covered from 2014 until 2017. 

2.2. Methodology and limitations 

The  evaluation  was  carried  out  between  October  2017  and  April  2018.  This  report  is 
accompanied by a Staff Working Document which was supported by a study9 carried out by 
an external contractor.  

For  the  purpose  of  this  evaluation  a  broad  range  of  reports,  academic  literature  and  other 
documentation  on  the  actions  and  activities  funded  under  the  Consumer  Programme  were 

7 COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, 
THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 
Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy , COM/2015/0614 final https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0614   
8 Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 
establishing the Programme for single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-
sized enterprises, and European statistics and repealing Regulations (EU) No 99/2013, (EU) No 1287/2013, 
(EU) No 254/2014, (EU) No 258/2014, (EU) No 652/2014 and (EU) 2017/826 
COM/2018/441 final - 2018/0231 (COD)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1540389031742&uri=CELEX%3A52018PC0441 
9 Published on 18 January 2019 https://publications.europa.eu/fr/publication-detail/-/publication/5e9ee253-22b0-
11e9-8d04-01aa75ed71a1/language-en  

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collected, reviewed and processed. To ensure a coverage of interests as broad as possible, a 
wide  variety  of  stakeholders  were  consulted  for  the  evaluation.  A  public  consultation  took 
place from 10 January 2018 until 9 March 2018 as part of a consultation on EU funds in the 
area  of  Investment,  Research  and  Innovation,  SMEs  and  Single  Market  preparing  the  post 
2020 funding programmes. 

At the moment of the evaluation, the majority of financed actions were still at the early stage 
of  the  implementation  providing  limited  data  on  results  of  actions  and  impacts  of  the 
programme.  Therefore,  the  mid-term  evaluation  of  the  programme  mostly  relied  on 
stakeholders’  assessments  regarding  the  programme  implementation  and  outputs  of  actions 
financed under the Consumer Programme.   

Where  possible,  findings  from  interviews  were  triangulated  with  quantitative  analysis  of 
outputs and actions. To the extent possible, the analysis of evaluation questions was informed 
by a comparison with a baseline situation (end of the previous programming period).  

3.  KEY ELEMENTS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME 

3.1. The Programme’s specific objectives and its eligible actions 

To pursue the Consumer Programme's general objective, under its article 3 the Regulation sets 
four specific objectives to be achieved through a series of eligible actions, as follows: 

Specific  Objective  I  –  Safety.  Under  this  specific  objective,  the  programme  aims  to 
consolidate and enhance product safety through effective market surveillance throughout the 
Union.  The  following  eligible  actions  of  the  Consumer  Programme  contribute  to  this 
objective: 

  Scientific  advice  and  risk  analysis  relevant  to  consumer  health  and  safety  regarding 
non-food  products  and  services  including  support  for  the  tasks  of  the  independent 
scientific committees established by Decision 2008/721/EC; 

  Coordination  of  market  surveillance  and  enforcement  actions  on  product  safety  with 
regard  to  Directive  2001/95/EC10,  and  actions  to  improve  consumer  services  safety; 
and 

  Maintenance and further development of databases on cosmetics. 

Each of the actions above is carried out through specific activities funded under the Consumer 
Programme. The main activities funded under Objective I are:  

  The Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products (RAPEX); 
  Joint cooperation and enforcement actions in the area of non-food consumer product 

safety; 

  Exchange of safety enforcement officials in the field of product safety and 
  EU  databases  on  cosmetics  (Cosmetic  ingredient  database,  Cosmetic  Product 

Notification Portal). 

Specific Objective II -  Consumer information and education, and support to consumer 
organisations.  The  programme  aims  under  this  specific  objective  to  improve  consumers’ 
education,  information  and  awareness  of  their  rights,  to  develop  the  evidence  base  for 
consumer  policy  and  to  provide  support  to  consumer  organisations,  including  taking  into 

10 Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product 
safety https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32001L0095  

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account  the  specific  needs  of  vulnerable  consumers.  Objective  II  comprises  the  following 
eligible actions: 

  Building  and  improving  access  to  the  evidence  base  for  policymaking  in  areas 
affecting  consumers,  for  designing  smart  and  targeted  regulations  and  for  detecting 
any market malfunctioning or changes in consumers’ needs, providing a basis for the 
development of consumer policy, for the identification of the areas most problematic 
for consumers and for the integration of consumer interests into other Union policies; 
  Support  through  financing  of  Union-level  consumer  organisations  and  through 
capacity  building  for  consumer  organisations  at  Union,  national  and  regional  level, 
increasing transparency and stepping up exchanges of best practices and expertise; 
  Enhancing the transparency of consumer markets and consumer information, ensuring 
consumers  have  comparable,  reliable  and  easily  accessible  data,  including  for  cross-
border cases, to help them compare not only prices, but also quality and sustainability 
of goods and services; and 

  Enhancing  consumer  education  as  a  life-long  process  with  a  particular  focus  on 

vulnerable consumers. 

Each  of  the  actions  above  is  implemented  through  specific  activities  funded  under  the 
Consumer Programme. The main activities funded under Objective II are:  

  Consumer  scoreboards11  and  surveys  (the  Consumer  Conditions  Scoreboard  and 

Consumer Markets Scoreboard); 

  Consumer market studies12; 
  Capacity building for consumer organisations (“Consumer Champion” project); 
  Support to EU-level consumer organisations ; 
  EU consumer information/awareness raising campaigns  
  The  European  Consumer  Complaints  Registration  System  and  related  support 

measures (ECCRS); and 

  EU consumer education resources (“Consumer Classroom” project). 

Specific Objective III - Rights and redress. The programme aims to develop and reinforce 
consumer rights in particular through smart regulatory action and improving access to simple, 
efficient,  expedient  and  low-cost  redress  including  alternative  dispute  resolution.  The 
following eligible actions of the Consumer Programme contribute to the achievement of this 
objective: 

  Preparation  by  the  Commission  of  consumer  protection  legislation  and  other 
regulatory  initiatives,  monitoring  the  transposition  by  Member  States  and  the 
subsequent  evaluation  of  its  impact,  and  the  promotion  of  co-regulatory  and  self-
regulatory initiatives and monitoring the real impact of those initiatives on consumer 
markets; and 

  Facilitating  access  to  dispute  resolution  mechanisms  for  consumers,  in  particular  to 
alternative dispute resolution schemes, including through a Union-wide online system 
and the networking of national alternative dispute resolution entities, paying specific 
attention to adequate measures for vulnerable consumers’ needs and rights; monitoring 
of  the  functioning  and  the  effectiveness  of  dispute  resolution  mechanisms  for 

11 https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/consumers/consumer-protection/evidence-based-consumer-policy/consumer-
scoreboards_en  
12 https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/consumers/consumer-protection/evidence-based-consumer-policy/market-
studies_en  

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consumers,  including  through  the  development  and  maintenance  of  relevant  IT  tools 
and the exchange of current best practices and experience in the Member States. 

Each of the actions above is carried out through specific activities funded under the Consumer 
Programme. The main activities funded under Objective III are:  

  Behavioural  studies  (e.g. on consumer decision  making in  insurance services, on the 
transparency  of  online  platforms;  on  advertising  market  practices  in  online  social 
media); 

  Other EU consumer policy studies (e.g. evaluations, study on enforcement authorities’ 
powers in the application of Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation); 

  Organisation of the Consumer Summit; 
  Organisation of the Citizens' Energy Forum; 
  Maintaining and administrating the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Platform; and 
  Communication campaigns and actions on Alternative Dispute Resolution/ODR. 

Specific Objective IV – Enforcement: It aims to support enforcement of consumer rights by 
strengthening cooperation between national enforcement bodies and by supporting consumers 
with  advice.  Objective  IV  is  carried  out  under  the  following  two  eligible  actions  of  the 
Consumer Programme: 

  Coordination of surveillance and enforcement actions with regard to Regulation (EC) 

No 2006/2004; and 

  Financial contributions  for joint  actions with  public or non-profit bodies constituting 
Union networks which provide information and assistance to consumers to help them 
exercise their rights and obtain access to appropriate dispute resolution, including out 
of court online resolution schemes (European Consumer Centres Network). 

Each of the actions above is carried out through specific activities funded under the Consumer 
Programme. The main activities funded under Objective IV are:  

  The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network, including the CPC system and 

joint actions for the enforcement of consumer protection laws; 

  Exchange of enforcement officials under the CPC; 
  Trainings for enforcement officials (E-Enforcement Academy); 
  Financial support to European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net); and 
  Trainings for ECC-Net. 

3.2. Programme management and beneficiaries 

The programme is being implemented by means of annual work programmes adopted by the 
Commission with the assistance of an advisory Committee with representatives from Member 
States13. Each annual work programme sets out the actions to be undertaken in a given year, 
including  the  allocation  of  financial  resources  to  each  action,  as  well  as  the  selection  and 
award criteria to attribute the funds. The actions are implemented mainly by calls for tender 
and calls for proposals. 
Since  2008,  the  Consumers,  Health,  Agriculture  and  Food  Executive  Agency  (CHAFEA)14, 
an executive agency established in Luxembourg, implements an important part of the multi-

13 The committee is an advisory committee as defined by Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 
14 For more details on the executive agency please refer to : http://ec.europa.eu/chafea/about/about.html     

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annual  programmes.  For  each  annual  work  programme,  the  Agency  and  the  Commission 
jointly agree what programme actions the agency will implement.   

The  beneficiaries  of  the  grants,  procurement  contracts  and  joint  actions  are  public  bodies, 
private  non-profit-making  bodies  and  private  entities  in  all  EU  Member  States.  The  target 
groups include public consumer protection authorities and other responsible entities, officials 
responsible  for  enforcing  consumer  protection  legislation  (e.g.  exchanges  of  officials), 
European consumer organisations, higher education institutions, students or teachers. 

3.3. Budget and state of implementation of the programme 

The implementation of the Consumer Programme 2014 – 2020 is ongoing: most of the related 
performance  targets  for  2014,  2015,  2016  and  2017  have  been  achieved.  The  2014,  2015, 
2016,  and  2017  annual  work  programmes,  with  a  budget  of  EUR  21.9  million,  EUR  22.5 
million,  EUR  23.7  million,  and  EUR  24,7  million  respectively,  were  executed,  with  a  final 
implementation  of  98,3%,  99%,  99,52%,  and  94,4%  respectively15.  The 
rate  of 
implementation of the work programmes proceeded as planned except that the absorption of 
the  budget  by  the  Member  States  authorities  was  lower  than  expected  and  the  remaining 
balance has been channelled to awareness raising campaigns. At mid-term, implementation of 
the  specific  actions  set  out  in  Annex  I  of  the  Regulation  is  well  on  track.  Only  a  limited 
number of specific actions have not yet been implemented or only partially.  

  Specific objective I – product safety 

EUR  13.1  million  (14%)  of  the  funds  committed  under  the  Programme  between  2014  and 
2017 were spent on activities related to Specific Objective I. The largest activity in terms of 
funds committed is joint cooperation and enforcement actions in the area of non-food safety 
(EUR 6.2 million,  or  47%  of  the  funds  committed  under  Objective  I).  Approximately  EUR 
2.9 million (22% of the funds committed under Objective I) has been committed to RAPEX. 
The smallest activity by budget size (not including networking and events or other supporting 
activities)  is  the  exchange  of  officials  in  the  area  of  product  safety  (3%  of  the  funds 
committed under Objective I).  

  Specific Objective II – Consumer information and education and support to 

consumer organisations 

EUR  35.1  million  (37%)  of  the  funds  committed  under  the  Programme  between  2014  and 
2017 were spent on activities related to Specific Objective II. The largest activity in terms of 
funds committed between 2014 and 2017 is EU consumer information and awareness raising 
campaigns (EUR 9.0 million), which make up 26% of the funds committed under Objective 
II. Consumer scoreboards and surveys (EUR 8.9 million) and support to EU-level consumer 
organisations  (EUR  6.0  million)  are  the  second  and  third  largest  activity,  respectively.  The 
smallest  activity  by  funds  committed  (not  including  networking  and  events  or  other 
supporting  activities)  is  the  European  Consumer  Complaints  Registration  System  (ECCRS) 
(2% of the funds under Objective II). 

  Specific Objective III – Consumer rights and redress 

EUR  13.0  million  (14%)  of  the  funds  committed  under  the  Consumer  Programme  between 
2014 and 2017 were spent on activities related to Specific Objective III. 

15 Implementation of 2018 budget is still ongoing in 2019. 

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47%  of  the  funds  committed  under  Objective  III  relate  specifically  to  online  /  alternative 
dispute resolution (ODR/ADR): the two largest activities funded under this objective are the 
maintenance,  administration  of  ODR  Platform 
(approximately  EUR  3.0  million), 
communication  campaigns,  and  promotion  actions  on  ODR/ADR  (approximately  EUR  3.1 
million).  Behavioural  studies  (EUR  2.4  million)  and  other  EU  consumer  studies  (EUR  1.9 
million)  also  make  up  a  substantial  part  of  the  funds  committed  under  Objective  III.  The 
smallest activities funded between 2014 and 2017 are the Consumer Summit (7% of the funds 
committed under Objective III) and the Citizens’ Energy Forum (0.4%). 

  Specific Objective IV – Enforcement 

EUR  30.2  million  (31%)  of  the  funds  committed  under  the  Consumer  Programme  between 
2014 and 2017 were spent on activities related to Specific Objective IV. 

The largest activity in terms of funding is by far the ECC-Net. With approximately EUR 24.8 
million in funds committed, the ECC-Net accounts for 82% of the spending under Objective 
IV of the Consumer Programme between 2014 and 2017. The next  largest  activities are the 
CPC network (7% of the funds committed under Objective IV) and training for enforcement 
officials in the framework of the E-Enforcement Academy (5% of the funds committed under 
Objective  IV). The smallest  activity  (not including other supporting activities) relates to  the 
exchange of enforcement officials (1% of the funds committed under Objective IV). 

  Cross-cutting activities 

Approximately 4% of the budget belongs to the ‘Administrative’ budget line, which is used to 
fund  cross-cutting  activities,  such  as  travel  and  accommodation  costs  of  the  participants  for 
events or meetings. 

4.  WHAT HAS THE CONSUMER PROGRAMME ACHIEVED? 

As  showed  in  the  accompanying  staff  working  document16,  the  Consumer  Programme  is 
performing  generally  well  at  mid-term  with  regard  to  its  specific  objectives.  The  following 
parts  assess  how  the  programme  functioned  in  terms  of  effectiveness,  efficiency,  relevance, 
coherence and EU added-value and present the views of the stakeholders consulted. 

4.1. Effectiveness 

Objective I Product safety 

The activities implemented under the Programme have been largely effective in consolidating 
and enhancing product safety through market surveillance in the EU, allowing for substantial 
progress in achieving Objective I compared to the baseline period. Information exchange and 
cooperation  between  Member  States  have  improved,  thereby  reducing  differences  in 
enforcement across the EU. 

The Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products-RAPEX  has become an effective 
and important pillar of the EU market surveillance architecture.  Its main target groups across 

16 SWD(2019) 382 COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document REPORT 
FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the mid-term 
evaluation of the implementation of the Consumer Programme 2014 - 2020 

7 

 
 
                                                           
 
the  EU  recognised  and  appreciated  the  system.  Joint  actions,  training  and  networking  are 
considered  to  be  effective  by  national  authorities.  These  activities  lead  to  coordinated 
approaches to common problems, direct contacts between authorities from different countries 
and exchange of good practices. They also support Member States' authorities in addressing 
new  challenges.  For  instance,  through  the  E-Enforcement  Academy,  it  was  possible  for  the 
Member States to co-operate, in order to conduct on-line investigations through high-quality 
trainings and learning materials. 

Limited  staff  and  financial  resources  for  market  surveillance  and  enforcement  in  Member 
States influence however the level of achievements, as reported by interviewees. Stakeholders 
consulted during the evaluation cited the continued presence of unsafe products on the market 
as well as emerging risks, e.g. from new, technically complex products or from e-commerce 
with third countries, as evidence that market surveillance needed to continuously adapt to new 
challenges. 

Nevertheless,  consumer  trust  in  product  safety  has  increased  during  the  Programme  period. 
About  three  quarters  of  retailers  agree  that  public  authorities  actively  monitor  and  ensure 
compliance with product safety legislation in their sector.  

Overall, the perception of stakeholders regarding the effectiveness of actions implemented in 
the first four years of the current Consumer Programme was positive, as equally positive was 
the  perception  of  the  benefits  that  most  of  these  activities  have  achieved  in  the  Member 
States.  

Objective II - Consumer information and education, developing the evidence base and 
support to consumer organisations 

Consumer  scoreboards  and  market  studies  have  significantly  contributed  to  developing  the 
evidence  base  for  consumer  policy,  leading  to  policy  uptake  at  EU  level.  Together  they  are 
useful tools for benchmarking purposes at the national level. Also, the programme support to 
the EU-level consumer organisation Bureau Européen des Unions des Consommateurs-BEUC 
is  considered  by  the  evaluation  to  be  effective.  The  organisation  made  an  important  and 
consistent contribution to representing consumer interests at the EU level. 

The  evaluation  considers  the  Consumer  Champion  training  courses  valuable  and  highly 
appreciated  by  stakeholders.  However,  the  online  learning  courses  and  the  interactive 
platform are not used according to the expectations. The capacity of consumer organisations 
at  the  national  level  remained  insufficient,  mostly  due  to  a  lack  of  resources.  Consumer 
awareness  campaigns  funded  under  the  Programme  have  good  results,  with  the  campaigns' 
targets in terms of hits or impression achieved. Long term impacts are, however, difficult to 
sustain.  

The  targets  set  for  this  objective  in  the  Regulation  relating  to  the  European  Consumer 
Complaints  Registration  System  are  already  met17.  However,  in  spite  of  positive  indicator 
values,  interviewees  emphasised  the  efforts  needed  for  providing  complaints  data  and 
suggested that the system needed improvement/changes.  

The key factors that influence the level of achievements of this objective are often external in 
nature. In the area of consumer information and education, these factors include limited staff 
and  financial  resources  available  in  the  Member  States,  but  also  the  limited  integration  of 

17 The 2020 target of « Number of complaint bodies (70) and number of countries (20) submitting complaints to 
the ECCRS » was already surpassed in 2015 with 73 complaint bodies from 20 countries. 

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consumer  education  into  national  curricula.  In  the  area  of  capacity  building  of  consumer 
organisations, resource constraints of the target organisations, which cannot appropriately be 
addressed by the provision of training alone represent main factors impacting the progress.  

Objective III Consumer rights and redress 

The  Online  Dispute  Resolution-ODR  platform  has  been  relatively  successful  in  attracting 
consumers to register their complaints. The target for 2020 in terms of complaint numbers is 
likely to be achieved18.  

The  main  benefit  of  the  ODR  platform  appears  to  be  that  traders  contacted  through  the 
platform often informally solve the problem directly with the affected consumers without any 
involvement of an ADR scheme. Positive trends with respect to accessibility of and consumer 
satisfaction  with  ADR  can  be  observed  based  on  EU  survey  data.  They  possibly  reflect 
ongoing efforts in the Member States to improve ADR systems and a broader recognition of 
ADR as an efficient means of redress. 

Behavioural  studies  are  also  an  essential  tool  to  support  evidence-based  policymaking  that 
considers  how  real  consumers  interact  in  real  markets  with  real  companies,  complementing 
evidence from legal and economic studies. However, stakeholders think that policymakers do 
not make sufficient use of these studies, or that the studies could be better promoted. Several 
studies  have  fed  directly  into  the  development  of  EU  consumer  policy  initiatives,  with  the 
practical value of the studies being confirmed by stakeholders. 

Objective IV: Enforcement  

The evaluation showed that important progress has been achieved towards Objective IV. This 
is evidenced by significant results in reaching most of the targets set in the Programme. The 
activities  funded  complement  each  other  well  and  have  been  largely  effective  in  supporting 
enforcement of consumer rights by strengthening cooperation between national enforcement 
bodies and by supporting consumers with advice. 

Activities  related  to  the  Consumer  Protection  Cooperation  Network-CPC  have  grown  in 
importance  and  have  seen  an  improvement  in  terms  of  achieving  their  aim.  However,  there 
are still differences between Member States in making use of the CPC System and engaging 
in enforcement requests. 

Exchanges  of  enforcement  officials  are  an  appreciated  activity  that  has  seen  increased 
participation, but that is unevenly used by Member States. Also, the E-Enforcement Academy 
has  received  a  high  assessment  of  effectiveness  by  the  national  authorities  to  which  the 
participating officials belong, although participation in its first year in operation has remained 
lower than planned, especially in web-based modules. 

The  output  of  the  European  Consumer  Centres-ECCs  is  significant,  and  the  quality  and 
timeliness of the ECCs’ services is also assessed positively in the recent specific evaluation. 
This is despite disparities in this respect between ECCs in different Member States. The main 
challenge for the ECCs is still their visibility.   

18 The 2020 target of cases dealt with the ODR system is 100.000 against the baseline (in 2010) of 17.500 cases; 
as in 2017, 55.002 cases were dealt with by the ODR, such trend, if confirmed, should make the achievement of 
the 2020 target possible. 

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The consultation carried out during the evaluation shows that in parallel to the implementation 
of activities under the Consumer Programme, consumers’ trust that public authorities protect 
their  rights  and  that  retailers  respect  consumer  rights  has  increased.  This  correlates  with  a 
slight  reduction  of  problems  experienced  by  consumers.  Two  thirds  of  retailers  consider 
public  authorities  to  actively  monitor  and  ensure  compliance  with  consumer  legislation  in 
their sector. However, this percentage has decreased over the last years. 

Limited staff and financial resources of consumer protection authorities in the Member States 
are  considered  key  factors  influencing  level  of  achievements  related  to  the  Programme 
objective.  Other key factors include the rapid innovation of products and services, as well as 
new distribution channels that make effective consumer protection more difficult. While this 
development offers many advantages for consumers as well as for businesses, there are also 
increased  risks  for  widespread  infringements  of  consumer  rights  and  difficulties  with 
enforcement of consumer rights. Effective enforcement of consumer rights was made a central 
part of the New Deal for Consumers launched by the European Commission. 

4.2. Efficiency 

Based  on  the  limited  evidence  collected  during  the  evaluation  as  well  as  the  feedback  from 
concerned stakeholders, the costs of the Programme activities and the related benefits appear 
to be largely proportionate. In terms of efficiency of specific activities, network meetings and 
events, in particular, are assessed by participating authorities and consumer organisations as 
activities,  which  despite  limited  resources,  achieved  highly  positive  results.  These  include 
improved  coordination,  mutual  learning  and  exchange  of  best  practices  in  different  areas  of 
EU consumer policy. 

The  evaluation  showed  that  improving  the  capacity  of  institutions  and  beneficiaries 
contributed to enhancing the efficiency of activities under the Programme. When this was not 
the  case,  stakeholders  repeatedly  cited  the  limited  availability  of  human  and  financial 
resources of some national authorities and consumer organisations as the key limiting factor 
to efficiency of many programme actions. 

Simplification measures have been taken for rules and procedures. These include the use of 
electronic tools for the submission and evaluation of proposals, the management of grants, e-
monitoring and e-reporting. While this development is resource intensive in the beginning for 
the design and testing of tools, the level of satisfaction from applicants and grant beneficiaries 
justifies  these  efforts,  and  financial  gains  are  expected  in  the  next  years.  Nevertheless, 
stakeholders  interviewed  saw  a  further  potential  for  simplification  regarding  application 
procedures  (59%),  reporting  requirements  (54%)  and  programme  management  (47%).  The 
feedback  from  stakeholders  also  stressed  the  need  for  strong  coordination  between  the 
Commission services and the executive agency CHAFEA.  

4.3. Relevance 

The  four  objectives  and  priorities  of  the  Consumer  Programme  2014-2020  are  still  relevant 
and meet the needs of consumers and of the stakeholders concerned (consumer organisations, 
member  states  authorities,  business  organisations  etc.).  The  four  specific  objectives  and  the 
eleven specific actions help to better focus the Programme’s actions and avoid overlaps and 
potential duplications among the different objectives. At the same time, these specific actions 
have the flexibility to allow for synergies that in some cases are clearly required. For example, 

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the E-enforcement Academy covered both, the enforcement officials and officials responsible 
for product safety.  

The  programme  is  indeed  flexible  enough  to  take  into  account  evolving  market  issues  and 
new needs of beneficiaries. 

4.4. Coherence 

The  different  actions  within  the  Consumer  Programme  2014-2020  are  coherent  and  work 
together.  Overlaps  and  inconsistencies  between  the  programmes  activities  are  minimised  by 
design, using a hierarchical (or 'tree') structure with four specific objectives, which are linked 
to  eleven  specific  actions,  under  which  approximately  30  main  activities  are  funded.  No 
overlaps  or  inconsistencies  were  identified  in  the  framework  of  the  analysis  of  the 
implemented  actions/activities  by 
the  evaluation.  The  feedback  from  stakeholders 
corroborated this.  

The 2014-2020 Consumer Programme was considered by interviewees to be largely coherent 
with EU consumer policy in general as set out in the European Consumer Agenda, as well as 
with  other  EU  programmes  and  other  EU  consumer-relevant  policies,  such  as  the  Digital 
Single Market strategy, the Energy Union or the Circular Economy Action Plan.  

4.5. EU added value, complementarity and sustainability  

The  EU  added  value  of  the  Consumer  Programme  2014–2040  is  overall  high.  93%  of 
interviewed  national  stakeholders  attributed  to  the  Consumer  programme  a  key  role  in 
achieving consumer policy and protection results, and affirmed that it had a moderate or great 
impact on the development of national consumer-related policies.  

Stopping  or  withdrawing  such  an  EU  intervention  would  mean  that  opportunities  to 
demonstrate the relevance of the single market  and generally of the EU to ordinary  citizens 
will  be  missed.  Lacking  this  EU  intervention,  at  national  level,  governments  would  either 
need to put more resources into domestic efforts, or end up not updating and enforcing rules 
for  lack  of  resources,  or  updating  and  enforcing  them  in  different  ways  to  the  detriment  of 
legal certainty and harmonisation in the Single Market. Discontinuation of EU level support 
would  risk  resulting  in  continued  wide  discrepancies  in  consumer  representation,  education 
and information and to negative perceptions of the EU. 

5.  CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD 

The  Consumer  Programme  is  playing  a  crucial  role  in  underpinning  the  EU's  Consumer 
Policy and delivering on concrete actions that are to the benefits of European consumers and 
concerned stakeholders.  

This report on the mid-term evaluation of the 2014-2020 Consumer Programme confirms its 
importance in helping to ensure a high and consistent level of consumer protection across the 
European Union and to empower consumers as key actors of the Single Market.  

With  consumer  issues  becoming  increasingly  cross-border  or  even  of  EU-wide  nature,  the 
Programme is also showing its added value through financing actions that ensure a coherent 
and consistent protection of all European consumers.   

As changes affecting our economy intensify, notably in the face of a growing digitalisation of 
the market place, the next EU programme in the field of consumer policy will have to become 
increasingly more agile and able to respond to rapid changes. These findings have been taken 

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into  consideration  in  the  framework  of  the  preparation  of  the  next  multiannual  financial 
framework (MFF) and the future EU funding programmes. 

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