A new EU directive on consumer protection should leave businesses free to determine how they comply with the rules, according to the EU Commissioner on consumer affairs, Mr David Byrne.
This would involve a shift away from paternalistic legislation that hampers innovation. But business would have to take general responsibility for ensuring fairness in its commercial practices.
A new framework directive, outlawing unfair commercial practices and containing codes of conduct and non-binding guidance, is expected to be ready by the end of this year or early in 2003, he said.
Mr Byrne was speaking at the Irish European Law Forum in Dublin on Saturday, organised by UCD's Faculty of Law, on the subject of European Law and the Consumer. He said that in considering consumer law the EU Commission was examining fair commercial practices and fair trading, co-operation between national enforcement bodies, and contract law.
There was no contradiction between the completion of the internal EU market and consumer protection, he said. They were "complementary and inseparable." While the completion of the internal market involved the elimination of regulatory barriers to trade among the EU states, it could not happen without consumers being as confident in buying in other countries as they are in buying in their own.
Until now the history of EU consumer protection was largely one of minimum harmonisation, with states retaining the discretion to add national provisions to those laid down by EU law. This effectively reduced the harmonising effect of EU law.
Further progress depended on the fundamental principles of consumer protection being adopted at European level.
The Green Paper on Consumer Protection, published last year, developed the idea of a Framework Directive, along with a legal instrument for co-operation between the difference national enforcement authorities, like the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs here. They should have reciprocal rights and obligations to exchange information and co-operate in cross-border cases.
A new directive would include provisions to tackle misleading advertising, aggressive marketing methods and failure to provide after-sales assistance and the effective handling of complaints. It would have to provide the required degree of legal certainty and give the European Court of Justice a clearer basis on which to rule, he said.