Speech by Emma Bonino
Emma Bonino
European Commissioner in charge of Consumer Affairs
Mrs Esserman, Mr State Secretary Schomerus, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to have the honour of being the first speaker
at the opening session of this second meeting of the Transatlantic Consumer
Dialogue. I regretted very much that I was not in a position to attend
the first meeting in September last year in Washington D.C., not least
because the European Commission played a leading role in setting up this
Dialogue.
Why do we think this Dialogue process is so important? First, because
the globalisation and liberalisation of markets as well as the dissemination
of new technologies have revolutionised the way markets serve consumers.
Business was the first to understand this. It has organised itself consequently
e.g. under the Transatlantic Business Dialogue umbrella first and, more
recently, in the Global Business Dialogue. It is true to say that the
latter was set up at the initiative of the Commission.
But the consumers voice should also be heard. Giving consumers a more
powerful voice in the EU and in the world is one of the three objectives
which are at the basis of the new Commission three year Programme for
the years 1999-2001. The two other objectives are a high level of health
and safety protection and full respect for consumers' economic interests.
There are of course other reasons why the TACD is important:
Apart from identifying issues which may become a source of contention
and which one should try to solve through Dialogue, the TACD is also a
body bringing together leaders of the consumer movement from all over
the EU and the US representing over 630 million consumers which should
be able to influence policy makers, just as the TABD does.
I do not like the idea of talk shops. On the contrary, I look forward
to receiving from you concrete ideas having an impact on our governments.
We are expecting from you deliverables, as our American friends would
say.
It will not be an easy task. From your agenda I can see that you are
tackling the thorniest of issues which confront us : GMOs and food safety,
antibiotics, electronic commerce, data privacy, and so on. On top of that,
you consumer organisations on both sides of the Atlantic have different
traditions of activism and on some subjects different philosophies; in
addition, our societies seem to have taken different approaches to certain
issues, for instance, in the case of GMOs. This does not make things easier.
But you share something important: the will to protect consumers' interests
and the will to dialogue. The joint statement on the Transatlantic Economic
Partnership which you addressed last December to the EU-US summit showed
that your Dialogue can work. The Commission was impressed. I hope this
was also true for the US Government.
The TACD also gives a broader perspective to many of the local or regional
consumer associations by showing them that today many decisions affecting
consumers are not taken any more at regional or even at national level
but at international level in organisations such as Codex Alimentarius,
the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, and the World Trade Organisation
(WTO). It is striking that the WTO has decided that in the coming millennium
multilateral negotiations, civil society, including consumers, will be
able to voice their concerns.
Regarding the reasons behind this, let me remind you of what President
Clinton addressed explicitly in his speech to the WTO in Geneva in May
1998: (I quote) "... Working people will only assume the risks of
a free international market if they have the confidence that this system
will work for them ... I propose the WTO, for the first time, provide
a forum where business, labour, environmental and consumer groups
can speak out and help guide the further evolution of the WTO ..."
The European Community shares the President's view on this.
Another point I would like to make is that consumer policy-makers and
consumer representatives need to improve their relationship with other
policy-makers as consumer issues become increasingly inter-linked with
other policies (agriculture, market liberalisation, (combatting child
labour, etc). Here again, the TACD can play a role. The TEP offers a good
opportunity for this. Since it is the political framework where the US
and the EU meet to discuss items such as biotechnology, Procurement, Technical
barriers to trade in goods, Services, Intellectual Property, Multilateral
issues and Environment. Another one might be the possible setting up by
the US and the EU administrations of a Dialogue between the existing Dialogues:
TACD, Business, Labour and Environment Dialogues.
Finally, amongst the topics on your agenda, I would like to single
out Food Safety and e-commerce and say a few words about these fundamental
issues for the consumers.
Food safety is so important to the European citizens that the Commission
decided to launch a campaign in the 15 Member States. This campaign was
launched in October 98 and will go on until November. This year in our
EU-wide survey, 68% of the citizens declared themselves concerned about
food safety, their first concern.
More than half of European consumers consider a foodstuff to be safe
when it contains no pesticides, no hormones and when it is checked by
the national or European bodies.
The campaign also responds to the Commission's concern to help reduce
the number, and the impact, of food poisoning cases in Europe. In the
Netherlands, for example, a survey found that 50% of food poisoning is
due to problems of treatment after sale, that is, owing to an
error in consumer manipulation. It is thus difficult to accept that one
link in the food chain could be as "dangerous" as all the other
links put together.
The topic of the campaign is that food safety is a shared responsibility:
farmers, producers, distributors and a sub-topic, which arises from this,
is: responsible consumers are informed and active. They do not eat everything
they are given: they check and pay attention to the labels. In the event
of a problem, they contact the consumer associations and/or the competent
authorities. The precise objective of the campaign is to inform and educate
the consumer about this complicated subject, by means of some simple messages.
I have the feeling that the success of the campaign is due inter alia
to the involvement of consumers' associations from the 15 countries. Their
involvement has made the associations better known to the consumers and
has strengthened their positions.
However, in spite of all our efforts to make available the best information
possible and to ensure transparency, there are still areas where scientific
evidence is insufficient or where negative effects are difficult to evaluate.
This is why, caring as we do for future generations, consumers ask themselves
fundamental questions, as for example: is it safe to eat transgenic products?
If we do, what could be the consequences for our children, for us and
for the environment?
If science cannot give a satisfactory answer, then, we must invoke
a very important principle: the precautionary principle.
This is the reason why, DG XXIV has taken the initiative to elaborate
a document on the precautionary principle. This could be the basis for
the elaboration of guidelines on the use of this principle in risk management
decisions. These guidelines should then be debated and hopefully accepted
not only at European level but also at international level such as the
Codex Alimentarius and the WTO.
Information technologies have opened up the perspective of a brave
new world for Electronic Commerce.
Governments, consumer organisations and business representatives all
want electronic commerce to flourish. We pursue the same objective. But
technology alone is not enough. For electronic commerce to develop you
need at least three things:
- technology
- suppliers offering goods and services on-line
- consumers willing to buy goods and services on-line
Focusing on the last requirement, namely the demand side of the market,
I would say that the key to consumer participation in electronic commerce
is consumer confidence.
And let us face reality. Consumer confidence in electronic commerce
still leaves much to be desired. We at the European Commission believe
that consumer confidence in electronic commerce should be pursued with
the following elements in mind:
- Consumers using e-commerce should not be less protected than they
are when using traditional forms of commerce;
- Consumer considerations and interests must be integrated in all
relevant initiatives aimed at furthering the development of electronic
commerce. The consumer dimension is not something that should be looked
at later. We hear this all too often and I admit that also the European
Commission has at times been guilty of such an approach. But with
the Amsterdam Treaty with its new provisions on consumer protection
coming into force next week, the consumer dimension cannot be overlooked
anymore. We have a Treaty obligation to ensure consumer concerns are
fully taken into account and integrated in all relevant initiatives.
And this is how it should be: Consumer concerns need to be addressed
here and now!
- Electronic commerce does not take place in a legal or regulatory
vacuum. Existing consumer protection rules are generally applicable
to electronic commerce. Clearly governments and enforcement authorities
are faced with a dilemma, namely that while the law operates on a
territorial basis, electronic commerce operates on a global basis.
This brings about new challenges. Geographical limitations of legislation
are not a new phenomenon. There are and always will be people who
will try to exploit this to place them out of the reach of the law.
The US Federal Trade Commission regularly publishes information on
the latest innovations in this respect. New technologies and new marketing
practices lead to new kinds of scams. Or better old scams in a new
wrapping (pyramid schemes, fraudulent business opportunities, deceptive
diet and medical solicitations, credit repair scams, to name just
a few). But with electronic commerce this phenomenon risks getting
a completely new dimension, an international dimension. The only solution
to this is increased international co-operation and co-ordination.
- Consumers need to know what to expect. The same applies to business
by the way. In a global market place this means that we have to come
to a common understanding of what the key elements of consumer protection
are.
In March we met our American counterparts at the Consumer Committee
of the OECD to discuss Guidelines on Consumer Protection in Electronic
Commerce. Last year in October in Ottawa, the OECD Ministers put forward
a strict deadline on the OECD Committee on Consumer Policy to complete
its work on these Guidelines. We at the European Commission are committed
to seeing the mandate given by the Ministers being fulfilled.
Consumer representatives have been actively participating in the work
of the Guidelines. I must say that we have found Consumer International's
contributions extremely helpful. Consumer organisations should work together
and continue to make their views known to Government representatives in
the OECD.
Many of the building blocks for consumer confidence in electronic commerce
are already available. There are enough bricks and mortar to put together
a quite impressive building. Arguments are continuing over the style of
the building: should it be classic or modern, renaissance, baroque, solid
concrete or flexible modules and so on.
I would plead for this argument to come to an end. In my opinion, the
best thing to do is to build bridges, connecting what already exists on
both sides of the Atlantic.
If we focus too much on a new building, we risk getting one without
windows - windows of opportunity - and lots of back doors.
Governments have plenty of architects. We may be a bit low on master
builders and our `customers' are not always clear on what kind of house
it is they want.
So let us work together and try to find common ground in this field
and others to ensure that on both sides of the Atlantic consumers enjoy
the highest level of protection.
I wish you a successful dialogue.
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