U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog: Europeans improve consumer protection

UPDATE 14 Oct 08: I've been in meetings in Brussels over the weekend with European consumer advocates as part of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD); we met with representatives of the European Commission and US State Department. Turns out that our European colleagues are extremely disappointed in Commissioner Kuneva's proposal -- below -- which would downgrade protections in many of the 27 EU member countries. The New York Times story, they tell me, reads like a press release from the Commissioner. We expect better from her. More news as we get it.

Original post: Today, the New York Times reports in the story by Stephen Castle Europe Prepares Consumer Rights Plan that European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs Meglena Kuneva (check that link later for a copy) will announce a directive that protects consumers in cross-border shopping. The PIRG-backed TransAtlantic Consumers Dialogue issued a paper in 2002 explaining some of the important fraud and consumer protection (products don't arrive, products don't work) issues. I am sure our European colleagues will have feedback on the proposal soon. I'd watch BEUC.org, the website of the European consumer federation. From the Times:

Under the commission proposal, which is subject to approval by the individual countries and the European Parliament, a common cooling-off period of 14 days would be established. In addition, prices and terms and conditions of sale would have to be explained on the sellers’ Web sites, and retailers would be prohibited from putting prechecked boxes for added-cost options on their sites. Consumers would have the right to be reimbursed for money paid for preselected options.

By the way, we could use some U.S. consumer protection officials like Kuneva.