Main European Union legislation on consumer protection

By Sorin Strătulă

In terms of European Union law, the newest and most comprehensive directive on consumer rights is Directive 2011/83 / EC, generically called “The Directive on Consumer Rights”, that has entered into force on June 13th, 2014.

As of this date the Directives 97/7 / EC on the Protection of Consumers in respect of distance Contracts and 85/577 / EEC on the consumer protection in respect of Contracts negotiated away from business premises. This Directive aims to achieve a high level of consumer protection, by standardizing certain aspects contained in consumer contracts, mainly regarding the obligation imposed on pre-contractual information, the form of contracts, the consumer’s right of withdrawal.

The Directive on Consumer Rights has been implemented into Romanian legislation by Government Emergency Ordinance no. 34/2014 on the consumer protection rights in their relations with enterprises („GEO 34/2014”), which will be briefly reviewed in the next article.

European main legislation includes other directives aimed at regulating specific aspects of consumer rights, such as:

– Directive 93/13 / EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts (transposed into Romanian domestic law by Law no. 193/2000 on abusive clauses in contracts between consumers and enterprises – „Law 193/2000”);

– Directive 98/6 / EC on consumer protection in the indication of the prices;

– Directive 2005/29 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business practices in the internal market for consumers (generically called “Unfair Commercial Practices Directive”) implemented into Romanian law system by Law no. 363/2007 on fighting unfair practices of enterprises in relation with consumers (“Law 363/2007”).