Today, European Consumer Centres are celebrating their 15 years of work as European consumer advisers in cross-border trade-related topics and problems. European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) has provided services to more than one million European consumers. More than 90,000 consumers have turned to the European Consumer Centre for assistance over the past year just with regard to corona pandemic-related issues.
Today, the European Consumer Centres will publish the “15 Years of ECC-Net. Help and advice for consumers of Europe.” report, which provides information on the large number and range of complaints arising from the corona pandemic as well as the pandemic’s impacts on consumers and the European Consumer Centres Network. The report also lists the milestones of European Consumer Centres activities and a review of the future of the network and European consumers. The report also contains brief country-specific data on all 30 European Consumer Centres.
On Friday 20 November 2020, the European Commission will organise an online event to mark the European Consumer Centres’ 15th anniversary. Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Affairs Didier Reynders will speak at the event organised for the network’s stakeholders, which will highlight milestones achieved in the work carried out with European consumers and priorities of the recently published new EU Consumer Agenda. The event will also include a panel discussion on the theme of sustainable consumption. One notable participant in the panel discussion will be Monique Goyens, the Director General of BEUC, the umbrella organisation for European consumer organisations.
Digital products and services as well as sustainable consumption important themes for coming years
In coming years, European Consumer Centres will support European consumers with how to navigate digital environments and promote sustainable consumption with efforts such as communication campaigns intended to reach consumers. These themes are also strongly reflected in the EU’s Consumer Programme.
The theme of responsibility has already come to the fore this year, at the beginning of which European consumer centres distributed tips on responsible travel and online shopping to consumers, and now, at the end of the jubilee year, an advent calendar for consumers that will encourage sustainable consumption will be published on the European Consumer Centres’ social media channels in December 2020.
New website
At the 15th anniversary event, the European Consumer Centres Network will launch its new English-language website eccnet.eu for use by international stakeholders. National websites (ecc.fi in Finland), which contain information on consumer rights in different situations in cross-border trade, as well as current guidelines and complaint letter templates, will remain important sources of information for consumers. The revamping of the Finnish website is currently underway, and the new website will be launched in spring 2021.
On Twitter, you can follow European Consumer Centres’ event and 15th anniversary news under the #15yearsECCNet hashtag.
In Finland, the European Consumer Centre is part of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) and works in close co-operation with the Consumer Ombudsman and Consumer Advisory Service. European Consumer Centre operations are funded by the Commission and member states. The network has offices in all EU Member States, Norway, Iceland and the UK.
More information:
15 Years of ECC-Net. Help and advice for consumers of Europe. Report by the European Consumer Centres Network, 2020
European Consumer Centres Network celebrating its 15th anniversary with theme months. European Consumer Centre news, 10 January 2020 (in Finnish)