EC recommendation of 12 May 2010 on EU-wide method for classifying and reporting consumer complaints
A few weeks ago I posted about a conference organized by the European Commission on consumer complaints. Today, the European Commission adopted a recommendation introducing an EU-wide method for classifying and reporting consumer complaints to be used by complaint bodies on a voluntary basis.
The method is expected to deliver comparable complaints data that will provide crucial evidence as to which parts of the Internal Market are underperforming for EU consumers. This, in turn, will allow for a quicker and better targeted policy response at both national and EU level. Consumer complaints are a key indicator of market health. There are more than 700 organisations handling consumer complaints in Europe. But they use different classifications. As a result, comparison and overview are not possible, even at the national level. To facilitate the adoption of the method, the Commission will provide technical assistance such as free software.
Conclusion: if you are a national consumer complaint body - call EC about the free software.
A bit worrying is the fact that the European Commission chose for the opt-in system, which means that the complaint bodies voluntarily implement and use this classification and reporting tools.
The method is intended to be used by bodies collecting complaints, such as national consumer authorities, consumer organisations, ombudsmen or regulators. These organisations will opt in to the system and to sending their data to the Commission. The Commission would then make the aggregate data public through the Consumer Markets Scoreboard.
I thought it was common knowledge by now that opt-in systems are generally much less effective than the opt out systems, since consumer behavior research showed that people tend to go with the default option. Someone should maybe let the European Commission know that if they really want the consumer complaint bodies apply the same classification and reporting tools they should maybe recommend the opt-out system and simply send the necessary software to all the national complaint bodies without waiting for them to register for that.
Well, on 27 May there will be a high-level conference held with interested national experts and policymakers. Maybe someone will raise this point then.
Press release on the subject may be found here.
