EU Consumer Summit 2014: Ensuring that consumers reap the benefits of the digital economy
1 Apr 2014 03:15 PM
Completing the digital single market would
benefit EU consumers by on average €400 a year, some €200 billion
Europe wide. The digital economy brings real benefits for consumers, but it
also raises important questions about consumers’ rights online. This
year’s Consumer Summit will focus on how we can ensure that consumers
reap the full benefits from the digital sector.
On
the occasion of the Summit the European Commissioner for Consumer Policy, Neven
Mimica said:"Consumers have a lot to gain from the digital
economy: better deals to be found, more content to access and cheaper ways to
communicate. At present only 50% of consumers in the EU shop online. There is a
clear potential for growth but we have to make sure that consumers can be as
confident shopping online as they are when shopping on the high
street.”
European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes,
responsible for the Digital Agenda, said: "We need to get every
European consumer digital. This week's vote in the European Parliament is
the first step towards achieving a true single market for telecoms, making our
vision of a connected, competitive Europe a reality. It's about arming
every European business with the tools and networks they need to innovate and
grow, and giving every European citizen the seamless connectivity they have
come to demand – without unfair practices like blocked services or
roaming charges. This is a very important week for European
consumers!"
This year's Summit brings together, some 400
participants representing the European Parliament, the Commission, national
governments, consumer and business associations, enforcement and regulatory
authorities, the European Consumer Centres and the European Data Protection
Supervisor.
The
very first Consumer Summit that took place six years ago already focused on
consumers' trust in the digital marketplace. Looking back, it is clear that
the EU digital economy has undergone a rapid transformation with a significant
impact on the lives consumers.
The
figures speak for themselves: There are currently more than 790 million mobile
phone subscriptions in Europe and the Internet is used by more than 370 million
EU citizens. More than half of EU consumers have made at least one online
purchase in the last twelve months and 80% of online consumers are using price
comparison websites to find better deals.
The
summit will focus on the urgent need for an integrated single digital and
telecoms market, benefitting consumers and companies. The Commission is
determined to stay close to citizens by addressing their concerns and
rebuilding their trust into the Internal Market, especially in the Digital
Single Market.
Making consumer policy fit for the digital era is an
objective of the Commission as highlighted in the Consumer Agenda. The
Commission has already started to deliver in this respect: online-dispute
resolution platform, the new consumer rights directive, on-going work on
comparison tools and user reviews, the strengthened focus on online
enforcement, the launch of Consumer Classroom and the launch of an interactive
web platform for capacity-building of consumer organisations. The Commission
has also tabled ambitious proposals to update the current framework for Data
protection and to complete the Telecom Single Market.
The
aim of the Summit is to look at what has been achieved so far in making
consumer policy fit for the digital age – including looking at national
best practices - and what remains to be done to tackle emerging
challenges.
Targeted workshops will be held on the following
topics:
-
“Connectivity”
– exploring consumers’ needs for broadband connectivity
in the EU in the next five years and ways to avoid a digital
divide.
-
“EU rights for online
consumers” – identifying potential gaps in the existing
regulation and ways of stepping up enforcement.
-
“Online payments" –
assess risks and benefits for consumers in the take-up of these payment forms,
for instance in relation to the protection of personal data in payment
transactions.
-
“Digital
literacy” – helping consumers master the
digital environment, distinguish paid or sponsored content from other content,
understand and manage online tracking and online behavioural
advertising.
-
“Trust online” –
assessing to what extent tools such as trustmarks and online consumer reviews
can help increase consumer trust in e-commerce and how the trustworthiness of
such tools can be ensured.
-
“New and fairer deals” –
improving consumer choice through digitally-enabled deals (e.g. through
comparison tools).
For more information:
Consumer Summit 2014:
http://www.european-consumer-summit.eu/index_en.html
Follow us on twitter @EU_Consumer
Contacts
:
David
Hudson (+32 2 296 83 35)
Andreana
Stankova (+32 2 295 78 57)
For
the public: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or
by email