The European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Affairs (IMCO) Committee adopted today unanimously their second reading report on the proposed directive on Unfair Commercial Practices (UCP). This means technically that the report can be adopted at Plenary at the end of February or March without further debate, although there were some calls to have a debate to raise the profile of this piece of consumer protection legislation. The Rapporteur is extremely keen to have the vote in February as she is going back to local politics and is running for election in her constituency to become Mayor. MEPs worked collaboratively and several amendments were withdrawn at the last moment in favour of eight compromise amendments which attracted cross-party support. (Attached)
The result of the vote is generally good news for industry. The compromise amendments were sensible and some good changes were made from the Common Position text adopted by Council. The main changes are:
Ø Amendments making it clear the annex of blacklisted practices was an exhaustive list that could not be added to by Member States;
Ø Inclusion of descriptive wording for an "average consumer" as being "reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect.";
Ø Removal of the overly-wide Council phrasing in article 5.3 that implied any communication which might "reach" a vulnerable consumer had to be considered for its effect on a vulnerable consumer;
Ø Withdrawal of amendments seeking to blacklist discounts which did not relate to a reference price;
Ø The Rapporteur's amendment on children was adopted (no different to the TWF obligation) but other ones specifying children were not.
Proposed directive on Unfair Commercial Practices - revised
This proposed directive has been pending for a time. But in a vote the results were favorable for out industry.The changes demonstrate that that lawmakers try to understand our industry. And that even small words can mean a world of difference.
02.02.05
