Consumer protection and the impact of the digital and green transitions on consumers

Key points

The EU Youth Test at the EESC is being applied to this opinion. The European Youth Energy Network was chosen by a group of interested youth organisations to represent all of them during the opinion-making process.

The EESC:

• believes that mandatory and voluntary product information requirements should be harmonised across the EU, information overload avoided and the accuracy of labels ensured, so that consumers can adopt more sustainable consumption patterns;
• points out that products should be labelled in a way that makes it easier to make informed purchases, providing information on life cycle costs, energy efficiency, durability and reparability of products;
• calls on the Commission and national authorities to come up with an appropriate framework to ensure access to sustainable products through tax incentives and, in some cases, direct subsidies to reduce the price differential;
• calls for effective policies to be put in place to ensure access to the digital market, especially in rural and less populated areas, and to integrate consumers with fewer digital skills;
• reiterates the importance of educating consumers on how to make informed choices;
• underlines consumer organisations’ important role in the digital and green transitions, stressing their need for secure funding;
• calls for ensuring access to affordable and sustainable products also for vulnerable consumers bearing in mind that vulnerability can be of different nature and changing over time;
• is of the view that the EU should address the negative effects of non-EU platforms offering products at low prices and put in place stricter regulation with effective customs duties.

For more information, please contact the INT Section Secretariat