With the EU established as a key driver of financial services reform, the Panel believes there is now a huge opportunity to put consumers at the heart of the legislative and supervisory agenda throughout Europe. A day promoting and celebrating consumer rights is an opportune time to launch a new approach to consumer protection.
The Panel has set out four principles - access, value, redress and policing – which could be used to test any new measures. If applied consistently, they could enshrine the consumer perspective in new and developing legislation:
- There must be universal and real access to the financial services they need;
- Financial services must offer value to the customer; charges and costs must be fair, transparent and proportionate;
- Consumers must have practical access to binding redress, no matter where they are located; and
- Policing of the financial services landscape must also be effective with tough enforcement and appropriate penalties.
Adam Phillips, Consumer Panel Chair commented:
“On this day in 1962 President John F. Kennedy outlined his vision of consumer rights. He argued that, despite being the largest economic group, the rights of consumers were often overlooked. This holds true over 50 years later. A time of considerable financial pressure has also seen the EU become a key driver of financial services reform. There is unprecedented legislative activity with no less than six key pieces of legislation currently in progress, touching on fundamental savings, investment and insurance products. With such a vast array of legislation, we believe it is vital to enshrine consumer protection principles. We have, therefore, devised what we consider the key components of a new consumer protection framework.
We envisage our four pillars of consumer protection stimulating a debate on consistent thinking on consumer protection across the EU. We would urge legislators and regulators to test everything they do against these four principles. There needs to be a dialogue involving consumer bodies, legislators, regulators and supervisory bodies to ensure that consumers get a fair deal and that their rights are safeguarded and promoted. Throughout Europe there is already recognition of the need to promote fairness, transparency and simplicity. We put forward the Four Pillars as a pragmatic tool to help implement this agenda.”
