Source: European Parliament
Following the Digital Fairness Fitness Check report[1] published on 3 October 2024, the Commission will develop a Digital Fairness Act to address the identified consumer protection issues in the online environment, such as termination of subscription contracts, automatic renewal of subscriptions and conversion of free trials into paid subscriptions.
The specific options will be developed and assessed in an impact assessment. The Commission services are currently preparing a public consultation and impact assessment, to be conducted in 2025, ahead of a possible legislative proposal.
The Commission is also committed to improving awareness and understanding of the rights of European consumers through several initiatives.
The ConsumerPro[2] initiative is a capacity-building project with training programmes covering a wide range of topics, aimed at making consumer organisations and other actors in consumer policy better-equipped to protect and assist consumers.
The Consumer Education Hub[3] website is a repository of hundreds of educational materials and resources collected during two research studies carried out by the Commission in 2021-2022.
They can be used by all actors working in consumer education/advice and awareness raising. In 2024, the Commission launched a call for proposals[4] to provide financial support to initiatives and projects aimed at improving consumer education and awareness raising. Proposals selected for EU funding will be announced in Q1 2025.
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13413-Digital-fairness-fitness-check-on-EU-consumer-law_en
- [2] https://www.beuc.eu/consumer-pro-boosting-professionals-consumer-protection
- [3] https://consumer-education.eu/
- [4] https://eismea.ec.europa.eu/funding-opportunities/calls-proposals/call-proposals-action-grants-support-consumer-education-awareness-raising-and-local-advice-consumers_en