Directive (EU) 2024/825

What it is

to update EU consumer protection rules to empower consumers to act in favour of the green transition. PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: the proposal was one of the initiatives set out in the New Consumer Agenda and Circular Economy Action Plan and is a follow-up to the European Green Deal. Empowering consumers and providing them with cost-saving opportunities is a key building block of the sustainable product policy framework. This is to be achieved through the improved participation of consumers in the circular economy , in particular by providing better information on the durability and reparability of certain products to consumers before concluding the contract and stepping up the protection of consumers against unfair commercial practices that prevent sustainable purchases, such as: (i) greenwashing practices (i.e. misleading environmental claims); (ii) early obsolescence practices (i.e. premature failures of goods), and (iii) the use of unreliable and non-transparent sustainability labels and information tools. The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted the report by Biljana BORZAN (S&D, HR) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on amending Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU as regards empowering consumers for the green transition through better protection against unfair practices and better information. The European Commission's proposal aims to regulate the market to ensure truthful and easily accessible sustainability information. Members propose measures to further strengthen the proposal. In particular, they suggest better regulation of sustainability labels and sustainability information tools, as well as environmental claims. The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows: Before the consumer is bound by a contract other than a distance or an off-premises contract, or any corresponding offer, the trader should provide the consumer with the following information in a clear and comprehensible manner, if that information is not already apparent from the context: - for goods with digital elements, the minimum period in units of time, after the date of placement on the market, during which the producer provides software updates, which covers, as a minimum, the period as provided for in Union law and its voluntary extension, where the producer makes such information available for which the updates should be provided; - information provided by the producer about the availability and maximum price expected of the spare parts necessary to repair goods, including the minimum period, after the purchase of the good, during which spare parts and accessories are available, the procedure of ordering them, and the availability of a user and repair manual, as well as the availability of diagnosis and repair tools and services. When…

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