EU: The Consumer Agenda 2025-2030

 

The EU Commission has launched a public consultation on a new consumer agenda.

The upcoming consumer policy strategy aims to:

• Enable consumers to fully benefit from the Single Market,
• Strengthen enforcement of consumer protection rules,
• Safeguard the interests of vulnerable groups, and
• Support a fair, green, and digital economy.

The strategy outlines a series of measures to be implemented between 2025 and 2030, including initiatives on:

• Digital fairness,
• Enhanced enforcement of consumer law, and
• A dedicated action plan for consumers in the Single Market.

The New Consumer Agenda, adopted by the European Commission on 13 November 2020, provided a strategic framework for EU consumer policy until 2025. It focused on empowering consumers and promoting a fairer, greener, and more transparent marketplace.

Building on this, Enrico Letta’s report, Much more than a market, emphasized that consumers must be central to the Single Market and empowered to drive economic growth, sustainability, and innovation. Similarly, Mario Draghi’s report, The future of European competitiveness, underscored the importance of a truly integrated Single Market.

In her 2024–2029 Political Guidelines, President Ursula von der Leyen set out clear goals for sustainable prosperity, competitiveness, democracy, and social fairness. Commissioner Michael McGrath, responsible for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law, and Consumer Protection, has been tasked with presenting a new Consumer Agenda for 2025–2030. This will include an action plan to ensure consumers are not subject to unfair discrimination, retain their rights when shopping across borders, and are protected when buying goods and services.

Challenges Requiring EU-Level Action

A number of persistent and emerging issues justify action at the EU level:

• Barriers in the Single Market: Consumers and businesses continue to face limitations that prevent them from fully accessing its benefits. These include restrictions on delivery and payment in cross-border online shopping, and limited service availability in sectors like financial services.
• E-commerce risks: While digital commerce has expanded consumer choice, it also introduces challenges, such as a surge in unsafe products from non-EU countries and difficulties in enforcing EU consumer laws—especially against traders based outside the EU.
• Manipulative digital practices: Emerging technologies and data-driven business models are sometimes used to limit consumer choice. The current legal framework lacks clarity on how to address issues like dark patterns, deceptive influencer marketing, and addictive digital design.
• Regulatory gaps: Although the EU’s digital rulebook addresses many risks, gaps remain. The Digital Services Act regulates harmful practices by online platforms but does not fully cover other actors, such as online retailers, games, and direct-to-consumer content providers.
• Sustainability challenges: Consumer decisions often do not align with environmental values due to unclear, unavailable, or unaffordable sustainable options.
• Vulnerable consumers: Groups such as older adults, people with disabilities or reduced mobility, and children face distinct challenges. These include difficulty accessing essential goods and services, adapting to digital trends, and increased exposure to scams, harmful content, and mental health risks.
• Structural weaknesses in the consumer movement: EU consumer advocacy faces internal challenges, and governance structures must evolve to support evidence-based policymaking and cooperation across stakeholders both within and beyond the EU.
• Regulatory burden on businesses: SMEs and mid-sized firms are particularly affected by complex compliance requirements, which can limit their competitiveness and capacity to operate efficiently.
• Coordination difficulties: There are ongoing challenges in aligning the work of national and EU authorities responsible for enforcing various overlapping laws—ranging from consumer protection and product safety to customs, data protection, and digital services.

To find out more about consumer protection in the EU, do not hesitate to contact the Product Compliance Institute.