Green Paper on the Future Direction of EU Consumer Protection

In October 2001 the European Commission published a Green Paper on the future direction of EU consumer protection, to which the Government responded in January 2002.

Following the publication of the responses from all Member States, the Commission issued a Follow-up Communication to the Green Paper in June 2002.

It also set up an Expert Group comprised of members from individual national authorities (including BERR on behalf of the UK), to:  

• exchange views between the Commission and Member States; 
• identify existing barriers to cross border trade;
• compare concepts of fair commercial practices in Member States;
• consider the issues to be addressed by any framework directive and the level of harmonisation necessary
• in order to apply the principles of mutual recognition and country of origin;
• provide detailed analysis and options for future measures which will be used as the basis for any future consultation.

The Government responded to the Follow-up Communication in the Autumn of 2002.

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