Third DSM package adopted

On  25 May 2016 the European Commission adopted an extensive set of measures announced in the Digital Single Market Strategy.

The e-commerce package consists of:

1. Proposal for a regulation on addressing geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market
2. Proposal for a Regulation on cross-border parcel delivery services 
3. Proposal for a revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation 
4. Guidance on the application of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

The content package includes:

1. Proposal for a revised Directive on audiovisual media services
2. Communication on online platforms and the Digital Single Market

Furthermore, on 2 June a communication on a European agenda for the collaborative economy was presented.

A more detailed description of the adopted measures with particular relevance to consumer law will follow shortly. 

Directive on tobacco products (sort of) in force

Today, the implementation delay given to Member States to integrate the Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) has elapsed. Many Member States are actually not finished with the implementation process, but since several of the obligations imposed by the Directive on producers are quite straightforward, it is to be expected that these obligations will be treated as binding form now on.

What are the main points of the Directive? What consumers will notice more easily is that:
1) graphic and textual info will have to be very prominently displayed, including some simplified content information (ie the standard sentence "Tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer" will replace substance-by-substance info);
2) 10-cigarette packages will disappear, and so all sort of flavoured cigarettes;
3) the packaging and labeling of e-cigarettes will change, to sport a notice that non-smokers should not start using them.

Want to know more? Check the condensed info sheet put together by the Commission here and the whole information package concerning the directive here. 

Commission's public consultation for the Fitness Check of EU consumer and marketing law

The European Commission has published an online questionnaire as part of the 'Fitness Check' of EU consumer and marketing law. The aim is to evaluate if the following six directives are fit for their purpose on the basis of the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value:

• Unfair Contract Terms Directive 93/13/EEC;
• Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive 1999/44/EC;
• Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC;
• Price Indication Directive 98/6/EC;
• Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive 2006/114/EC;
• Injunctions Directive 2009/22/EC.

In addition, this consultation also covers the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU, which is subject to a separate evaluation.

The Commission welcomes contributions from citizens, organisations and public authorities. The responses received will be published on the internet. Click here for more information.

EU Court of Justice launches application CVRIA

For our readers who wish to stay up-to-date on the work of the EU Court of Justice: an application has been launched (for Android and Apple) which provides access to the latest decisions as well as the latest press releases. Also included is the Court’s diary, providing details of hearings, judgments and Opinions for the coming weeks.