European Consumer Centres Network

Last updated

The European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) [1] is an EU-wide network. [2] There is a national contact point called European Consumer Centre (ECC) in all 27 EU Member States, as well as in Iceland and Norway. [3] ECCs provide consumers with information about the opportunities and risks of the European Single Market and also regarding cross-border consumer topics, such as travel, various services, and the purchase of goods and services. [4] The ECC-Net is staffed by legal experts who assist consumers free of charge to solve any dispute that may arise with enterprises based in another EU country, Norway, or Iceland. The ECCs are co-financed by the European Commission and national governments aiming to protect consumer rights and ensure that every EU citizen may take full advantage of the European Single Market. Depending on the formal structure some ECCs are hosted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governmental bodies, or independent organizations.

Contents

History

The European Consumer Centres Network was established in January 2005 by the European Commission and national governments. As a result of the enlargement of the European Union, the ECC-Net has expanded to include: Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and Croatia in 2013. Today, there are 29 European Consumer Centres: 27 in the EU Member States, one in Norway, one in Iceland. The ECC-Net originated from two former existing consumer information and protection networks: [4] The Network for the extrajudicial settlement of consumer disputes (EEJ-Net) and the Euroguichet Network. [5]

The EEJ-Net was established in 2001 to help consumers to solve cross-border disputes with traders providing defective goods and services, by guiding them to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (ADR). The Euroguichets were founded in 1992 at the European Commission's initiative with the objective to inform consumers about the opportunities of the European Single Market and about their rights as consumers in Europe. Moreover, the Euroguichets helped consumers encountering problems with cross-border transactions. The Euroguichets also acted as interfaces between consumers and the European Commission. The European Consumer Centres Network took over the duties of both organisations: It helps consumers to solve cross-border disputes and informs them about their rights in Europe.

Activities

The European Consumer Centres Network:

All services provided by the ECC-Net are free of charge for consumers.

Operation

An example

A Spanish consumer orders a smartphone from an Italian trader. The smartphone arrives but it does not work properly: the consumer contacts the trader but is left without a reply. He promptly calls his national ECC, in this case the ECC Spain for further assistance. ECC Spain shares the case with ECC Italy. ECC Italy contacts the trader, the conflict is resolved and the consumer is reimbursed.

How does the ECC-Net help?

  1. The consumer must be confronted by a cross-border issue, that means a dispute with a trader based in another EU country, Norway or Iceland.
  2. The consumer must have contacted the trader directly, or made such an attempt, in order to solve the problem.
  3. If the problem cannot be solved, the consumer may call the ECC of this home-country ("national ECC") for help. The national ECC may be contacted by mail, online form, by phone, and occasionally in person. See below: List of national ECCs.
  4. The national ECC shares the case with the ECC of the trader's country.
  5. The trader's ECC contacts the trader to find an amicable solution.

More than two thirds of disputes are solved in favor of the consumer. [12] If no solution can be found, the ECCs help consumers to find an appropriate Alternative Dispute Resolution body or inform them about other possibilities, e. g. Small Claim Procedure, European Payment Order to solve the problem.

The ECC-Net cannot help:

Additionally, the ECCs cannot represent the consumer in court nor enforce the law to apply sanctions on traders.

Statistics [ needs update ]

For further statistics, see ECC-Net publications. [15]

Background

An effective European consumer policy aims at safeguarding consumer's rights through legislation: this includes offering help and advice in order to solve disputes with traders based in another EU-country, Iceland or Norway in an amicable way. [16] Well-informed consumers may take full advantage of the European Single Market through lower prices, better conditions, and a wider range of products, both online and in person.

The European Consumer Centres Network was established to provide consumers with clear information about their rights and to assist them to effectively solving a consumer issue; this improves consumers' confidence in the European Single Market and helps to enforce economic potential for growth.

Given the rapid increase in online consumerism, the role of the ECC-Net in solving cross-border e-commercial disputes - without going to court - has grown substantially. Therefore, the role of the ECC-Net will continue to expand in regards to the European Digital Single Market.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Union</span> Supranational political and economic union

The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The Union has a total area of 4,233,255 km2 (1,634,469 sq mi) and an estimated total population of over 449 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Economic Area</span> European free trade zone established in 1994

The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the Agreement on the European Economic Area, an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The EEA links the EU member states and three of the four EFTA states into an internal market governed by the same basic rules. These rules aim to enable free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital within the European single market, including the freedom to choose residence in any country within this area. The EEA was established on 1 January 1994 upon entry into force of the EEA Agreement. The contracting parties are the EU, its member states, and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. New members of EFTA would not automatically become party to the EEA Agreement, as each EFTA State decides on its own whether it applies to be party to the EEA Agreement or not. According to Article 128 of the EEA Agreement, "any European State becoming a member of the Community shall, and the Swiss Confederation or any European State becoming a member of EFTA may, apply to become a party to this Agreement. It shall address its application to the EEA Council." EFTA does not envisage political integration. It does not issue legislation, nor does it establish a customs union. Schengen is not a part of the EEA Agreement. However, all of the four EFTA States participate in Schengen and Dublin through bilateral agreements. They all apply the provisions of the relevant Acquis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Ombudsman</span> Ombudsman for the European Union

The European Ombudsman is an inter-institutional body of the European Union that holds the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses and organisations facing problems with the EU administration by investigating complaints, as well as by proactively looking into broader systemic issues. The current Ombudsman is Emily O'Reilly.

European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union and its policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Europe</span>

The economy of Europe comprises about 748 million people in 50 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European single market</span> Single market of the European Union and participating non-EU countries

The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The single market seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people, known collectively as the "four freedoms". This is achieved through common rules and standards that all participating states are legally committed to follow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chartered Trading Standards Institute</span>

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is a professional association which represents and trains trading standards professionals working in local authorities, business and consumer sectors and in central government in the UK and overseas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ANEC (organisation)</span> Standards organisation in Europe

ANEC, formally The European consumer voice in standardisation, is an organisation promoting and defending the collective European consumer interest in the process of standardization, and in related fields such as conformity assessment (e.g.certification), market surveillance and enforcement. ANEC also aims to influence legislation that makes reference to standards or standardization. In November 2008, ANEC adopted the strapline 'Raising Standards for Consumers' as part of an initiative to improve the visibility of the association. On 15 March 2018, World Consumer Rights' Day, ANEC launched a short video to explain its role and highlight some of its successes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 enlargement of the European Union</span> Accession of Croatia to the European Union

The most recent enlargement of the European Union saw Croatia become the European Union's 28th member state on 1 July 2013. The country applied for EU membership in 2003, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004. Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council in mid-2004. The entry negotiations, while originally set for March 2005, began in October that year together with the screening process.

ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators, represents 40 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 36 countries across Europe, thus extending beyond EU borders. ENTSO-E was established and given legal mandates by the EU's Third Package for the Internal energy market in 2009, which aims at further liberalising the gas and electricity markets in the EU. Ukrainian Ukrenergo became the 40th member of the association on 1 January 2024.

European Dactyloscopy (Eurodac) is the European Union (EU) fingerprint database for identifying asylum seekers and irregular border-crossers. After the European Parliament approved the last Eurodac reform proposed by far-right party Vox, asylum applicants and irregular border-crossers over the age of 6 have their fingerprints, pictures, and other biometric data taken as a matter of EU law, which discriminatorily considers biometric data as a "special category of data" just in the case of EU citizens. These are then sent in digitally to a central unit at the European Commission, and automatically checked against other prints on the database. This enables authorities to determine whether asylum seekers have already applied for asylum in another EU member state or have illegally transited through another EU member state. The Automated Fingerprint Identification System is the first of its kind on the European Union level and has been operating since 15 January 2003. All EU member states currently participate in the scheme, plus four additional European countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microstates and the European Union</span> Relationship overview

Currently, all of the European microstates have some form of relations with the European Union (EU).

The concept of the informed consumer is fundamental in the law of the European Union. Since the European Council Resolution of 14 April 1975, one of the primary objectives of the European Community, and then the European Union, has been the provision of information to consumers. The rationale is that market actors are enabled to make better choices when they are informed and have a greater capacity to understand the importance of their market actions and choices.

SOLVIT is an informal problem-solving network of the European Commission and the member states of the European Union and the EEA. Created in 2002, it assists citizens and businesses to ascertain their EU rights where a dispute has arisen between a citizen or a company and a public authority of a member state of the European Union and the EEA other than their country of origin. There is a SOLVIT centre in every member state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmonised service of social value</span> Type of freephone service in the European Union

A harmonised service of social value is a type of freephone service available in the European Union and in some non-EU countries, which answers a specific social need, in particular which contributes to the well-being or safety of citizens, or particular groups of citizens, or helps citizens in difficulty. The phone numbers and the corresponding service descriptions are managed by the European Commission and harmonised across all EU and EEA member states. Harmonised services of social value use the prefix 116, which is then followed by three digits indicating the type of service.

The Internal Market Information System (IMI) is an IT-based network that links public bodies in the European Economic Area. It was developed by the European Commission together with the Member States of the European Union to speed up cross-border administrative cooperation. IMI allows public administrations at national, regional and local level to identify their counterparts in other countries and to exchange information with them. Pre-translated questions and answers as well as machine translation make it possible for them to use their own language to communicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Single Market</span> European Commission market policy

The term digital single market refers to the policy objective of eliminating national or other jurisdictional barriers to online transactions, building on the common market concept designed to remove trade barriers in other commercial fields.

The European Union's scientific collaboration beyond the bloc describes the European Union's frameworks for bilateral cooperation and specific projects in science and technology, with countries and regional blocs situated beyond the European Union.

The Electronic Communications Code Directive is a directive in EU law, which regulates electronic communications networks and services.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.eccnet.eu/ [ bare URL ]
  2. ↑ "How ECC Net works". European Commission . Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "Contact ECC Net". European Commission . Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net)". EUR-Lex . Retrieved 22 April 2023. (Archived)
  5. ↑ "Network for the extra-judicial settlement of consumer disputes (EEJ-Net)". EUR-Lex . Retrieved 22 April 2023. (Archived)
  6. ↑ "ECC-Net launches new mobile app to aid consumers travelling abroad". European Consumer Centre Ireland. Archived from the original on 2017-02-28.
  7. ↑ "Consumer Protection Cooperation Network".
  8. ↑ "Europe Direct".
  9. ↑ "Financial Dispute Resolution Network (FIN-Net)".
  10. ↑ "SOLVIT".
  11. ↑ "European Judicial Network on civil and commercial matters".
  12. 1 2 "The European Consumer Centres Network: Anniversary Report 2005 - 2015" (PDF).
  13. ↑ The European Consumer Centers Network, Annual Reports, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union
  14. ↑ "38.048 issued complaints: diagram" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-14.
  15. ↑ "ECC-Net publications" . Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  16. ↑ "Consumers: What the Commission is doing". European Commission. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.