Making waste a resource

The European Commission published a report on the 10th of April 2012 on the use of economic instruments and waste management performances. Taking into account the environmental concerns of our century, good policy choices regarding management of waste and resources are crucial for the development of the EU. Citizens in every Member State need to be encouraged to participate in good resources policies. The report points out towards vast differences between Member States. While six most advanced Member States (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands) landfills less than 3% of their municipal waste and have high recycling rates, there are still 9 Member States that landfill more than 75% of their waste.

It is interesting to see that aside some public administrative measures directed at companies, e.g., landfill and incineration taxes or bans, other measures adopted to motivate citizens to segregate their waste and to recycle have proved effective. For example, the 'pay-as-you-throw' scheme, where citizens are charged a certain fee based on the amount of garbage they are disposing of. Another scheme - 'producer responsibility' - increases the responsibility of producers of goods for their packaging, encouraging them to take measures to collect packaging from citizens after the use of the product. Think about a possibility to give back beer or soda bottles in a supermarket - the small fee that you get in return is an incentive to act environmentally-friendly, at the same time the company may reuse its packaging, which saves it costs and taxes.

The European Commission is considering legally binding measures that would lead to implementing existing waste legislation more effectively (Environment - Getting gold from garbage - how some Member States are making waste a resource).

Making fundamental rights reality

Today, the European Commission presented its second annual report on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which has now been legally binding for over two years. The report is meant to raise people's awareness of the Charter, when it applies, and the role of EU institutions in the field of fundamental rights.

In the field of consumer law, the report makes mention of some important judgments of the European Court of Justice: 'In March 2011, the Court ruled in the Test-Achats case that different premiums for men and women constitute sex discrimination (MEMO/11/123) and, in November 2011, that ordering an internet service provider to install a filtering system to prevent an infringement of intellectual property rights would infringe customers' rights to receive and send information (Scarlet v. SABAM case).'

More information can be found in the Commission's press release and on DG Justice's website.

Internet of Things

The European Commission opened a new consultation procedures (not only for stakeholders, but also for the public at large) which is to help it envisage the future of internet technology ("The Internet is gearing up for the next technological revolution: communication with and among objects. How would you envisage the "governance" of such an "Internet of Things" (IoT)"). This initiative fits within the plan to increase online data protection of EU citizens. Nowadays, the protection is directed at internet users who open their computers/phones and browse the web. With the progress of technology it becomes clear that other, everyday products may be used to collect personal data as well as information on the physical environment of EU citizens via the wireless network. The EC predicts that by 2015 an average person would have 7 objects connected to the Internet (instead of standard 2: computer and smartphone). For example, sensors in a car may give away citizens' locations but also information on various subsystems of the car, their need for maintanence and repair; personal devices may control the state of health of a citizen but also transfer this data to a central database; content of the fridge etc. could be stored and automaticlaly updated on citizens' smartphones.

"For example, if a university teacher cancels a morning lecture because they are sick, students' alarm clocks and coffee machines could automatically be reset, giving them an extra hour in bed. If an elderly person forgets to take an essential pill, a warning text message could be sent to a close family member, or even to a local emergency centre, so that somebody could call round to check that everything was ok." (Digital Agenda: Commission consults on rules for wirelessly connected devices - the "Internet of Things")

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of wireless-connected devices, that allows access to information about our surrounding environment through objects able to interact with that environment and react to events. While this network could significantly improve our lives, it will also create a further threat to our privacy and security. The balance between the benefits to our economic and social lives and the need to protect our personal information needs to be estimated and upheld. Therefore, the European Commission through the questionnaire in this consultation process tries to estimate what importance EU citizens place on these values and how far the data protection should stretch in respect of IoT.

The deadline for sending replies is set on the 12th of July.

Where did all that money go? - on not-so-hidden mobile phone charges

Spending sprees can be fun, especially if you are in need of some retail therapy. Spending money when we did not intend it rarely leaves anyone feeling like a winner, though. A recent study on mobile phone use, conducted by billmonitor.com in the UK, showed that we are wasting ca. £5 billion a year because we either have not chosen for the best tariff for our needs or we are unaware of extra costs that go with a deal we have chosen (Mobile phone users 'wasting £5bn a year' by staying on expensive tariffs and running up extra charges, study claims). Mobile phone users rarely are aware of the exact amount of free minutes, free texts as well as their data allowance that the contract they concluded with the phone company gives them. The attention is drawn to the use of smartphones that have complicated the calculations for consumers. And so, we spend £173 million for additional access to the internet on smartphones a year. Most of us are unaware that using Twitter or Facebook applications on our stmartphone adds up to the usage of data. But the ignorance and lack of knowledge runs deeper, up to the point that it is hard to estimate for mobile phone users what spending 'one megabyte' of data means in practice, i.e., how many songs can be downloaded from iTunes, watched on YouTube website, how many emails could be sent or downloaded.

On average, we could save ca. £194 a year if we paid more attention when concluding a contract and chose a deal that fits better with our usage of the phone, which seems quite a lot in the time of financial crisis.

Teaching Consumer Law conference

Teaching Consumer Law Conference

On May 18th and 19th, the Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center will hold its sixth bi-annual Teaching Consumer Law Conference.

This year’s theme is “Teaching Consumer Law in an Evolving Economy.” This is the only conference devoted exclusively to the teaching of consumer law, and is designed for those currently teaching consumer law, as well as anyone who is interested in teaching or just wants to know more about consumer law issues. More than 30 presenters will discuss issues ranging from Fringe Banking, Debt Collection and Advertising, to Foreclosure, Payments and Arbitration. There also are several presentations discussing consumer law from an international perspective. Presenters include law faculty, adjunct faculty, and practicing attorneys. For more information and a registration form, go to http://www.peopleslawyer.net/for-the-lawyers.html .

ACTA referred to the CJEU

Last week the European Commission decided the details of its referral of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to the CJEU in order to clarify whether it does not infringe any fundamental rights (Update on ACTA's referral to the European Court of Justice). The broad scope of the referral question is supposed to allow the CJEU to conduct a detailed examination of the character of the ACTA and to see whether it does not infringe such principles as, e.g., the freedom of expression, freedom of information, data protection rights, as well as the right to property. Taking into account protests of the EU citizens (and, more generally, worldwide online communities) against the introduction of the ACTA and other connected to it acts (see our article: Don't ______ the internet!), it does not come as a surprise that the European Commission wants to alleviate some doubts and fears as to the functioning of the ACTA.

L&E of CESL

On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 April 2012, the Institute for Law and Economics of the University of Chicago Law School will host a conference on 'European Contract Law: A law-and-economics perspective'. The contributions to the conference will, among other topics, assess the newly proposed Common European Sales Law:

'The movement to harmonize European contract law generated various proposals for uniform statutes and optional instruments, culminating by the recent Draft Common European Sales Law. This ambitious reform envisions a uniform Sales Law for Europe with strong consumer protections, enacted by every member nation. Transactors will be able to choose this law to govern their transaction in place of existing contract law.

The Chicago conference brings together a group of leading scholars from Europe and from the University of Chicago, exploring the law and economics perspectives of the proposed harmonization. Is such an optional statute a desirable regulatory tool? What economic goals might it serve? Are the protections enacted in it suitable? What can be learned from the American experience with uniform commercial laws?'

More information and the programme can be found on the conference website.

Towards no stress driving

Today, the European Commission presented a proposal for simplifying car registration rules in the EU. The Commission considers vehicle registration problems to be among the main difficulties European citizens face in their daily lives and seeks to improve the regulatory framework for this problem.

The European Commission's memo on the proposal provides some interesting facts and figures, such as:

'- There are more than 300 million registered cars, buses, trucks and vans in Europe. Most of these will not be concerned by this proposal which concerns only the cars, buses, trucks and vans that frequently go across the borders within the EU. It is estimated that 3.5 million vehicles are transferred to another Member State per year.

 - In the period 2000-2011, the Commission handled 114 official complaints about car registration problems while the Court of Justice delivered 17 judgments and orders about car registration.

- Three quarters of the public authorities say they contact the registration authorities in the Member State, where the motor vehicle was previously registered, in order to get information needed for re-registration. Moreover all respondents' confirm having problems when dealing with registration authorities.'

The Commission's proposal introduces the principle that a car should be registered in the EU country where its owner lives. Other Member States may not ask her or him to register the car with them, even if the car owner spends a longer period there. According to the proposal, the same principle applies for companies: cars, buses, vans and trucks should be registered in the EU country where the main office is established. 

Furthermore, the proposal is considered to be beneficial for the tourism industry: According to the Commission's expectations, car-rental companies will save substantially under the new rules, as they will be able to transfer cars to another EU country during the holiday periods without re-registration. This could result in lower prices for renting a car during the holidays.

See the European Commission's press release and website for further information.

European Citizens' Initiatives

If you ever feel that European institutions are not properly doing their job, since you have great ideas how to protect, e.g., consumer rights in the EU that are currently not reflected in the EU legal acts, well, your time has come.

This Sunday, on the 1st of April, a new project was launched by the European Commission: European Citizens' Initiative (it was not a prima aprilis joke) on the basis of the Regulation 211/2011 of 16 February 2011 on the citizens' initiative. Basically, this project allows EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies. Citizens may come together and approach the European Commission with a proposal for a new EU legislation. A website was made on which all the rules of this project are explained, and through which Citizens' Initiatives may be reported.

To begin with, a citizens' committee made up of at least seven EU citizens who resident in at least seven different EU Member States needs to register an initiative (in any of the official languages of the EU). The proposal must fall within the scope of the European Commission's authority to draft legislation and must not be manifestly contrary to the values of the EU. From the moment of registration, the committee has 12 months to collect statements of support for its initiative from at least seven Member States. The support from each Member State needs to be higher than 750 times the number of Members of the European Parliament for that Member State (one million citizens from at least 7 Member States are needed). Anyone of voting age for European Parliament elections can support an initiative (18, except for Austria - 16), either on paper or online. The number of statements of support needs to be certified by the competent authorities in the Member States.

The European Commission has three months to examine the initiative and decide how to act on it. The organisers will be able to explain their initiative in details at meetings with the EC, as well as at a public hearing at the European Parliament. The initiative will end with the publication of the Communication by the European Commission explaining what actions, if any, will be taken, and its reasoning. (Commission fires starting gun on European Citizens' Initiative)

FAQ may be found here.

Black list of air carriers

Protection of air passengers in the EU stretches beyond giving them certain rights. The European Commission also holds the European list of air carriers which are for safety reasons subject to an operating ban or operational restriction within the EU. Today, the list had been updated for the 19th time. The current list may be consulted on this website.