Cities getting smart

68% of Europeans lives in cities, consuming 70% of the EU's energy. This means that urban development policies are quite important for sustaining the EU and its citizens in status quo of consumption in the coming years (with more and more energy being spent on ICT, transport etc.). Here is where the concept of "Smart Cities and Communities" is supposed to help out - by introducing innovative technologies that improve the efficiency of the urban environment.

Last week the European Commission launched a Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership (SCC), in which research resources are pooled from energy, transport and ICT and concentrated on a small number of demonstration projects which will be implemented in partnership with cities. This means that in 2013 the budget for innovation will be increased from € 81 Million to € 365 Million, and instead of just being spent on transport and energy, ICT projects would be implemented as well.

"Innovation drives Europe's competitiveness and is the best means of addressing energy efficiency. Thanks to this partnership, high efficiency heating and cooling systems, smart metering, real-time energy management, or zero-energy buildings neighbourhoods solutions will spread among more and more European cities." said Günther Oettinger, Energy Commissioner (Commission launches innovation partnership for Smart Cities and Communities)

What kind of projects could be co-financed by the EU?

• smart buildings and neighbourhood projects - integrating local renewable energy sources; using highly efficient heating and cooling systems (e.g., biomass, solar thermal, etc.); aiming towards zero-energy buildings;
• smart supply and demand service projects - providing information to consumers on energy consumption/production, multimodal transport and mobility services; developing smart metering;
• urban mobility projects - introducing more electric public transport vehicles; using ICT to manage energy flows or using hydrogen as energy carrier - energy flow would be controlled by ICT using forecasts for demand patterns based on weather forecasts, event planning etc.;
• smart and sustainable digital infrastructures - reducing carbon footprint on the internet; intelligent heating, cooling and lighting solutions.

More on Smart Cities may be found here. Urban Mobility - here.

Summer fun

The European Commission posted today also some handy tips as to how to spend a worry-free summer. Read it, if you are going to be travelling this summer and you are not sure what rights you have as a traveller or what to do in case of an emergency. Read it, if you are thinking about getting a timeshare in a property you rented for holiday. Read it, if you still don't know how to limit your telephone bills while you are abroad. Read it, if you want to know how to transport your pet. Finally, read it, if you are concerned as to what food to eat abroad. And then... remember to have some summer fun!

Cybercrime - new EU statistics

Cybercrime is internet users worst nigthmare. Due to the worries that if they give their personal information online, someone will record them and misuse them later, many EU internet users do not conclude any transactions online, which does not help to integrate the internal market. Recent findings of an Eurobarometer show that internet users (survey covered 27000 people in all EU Member States - EU citizens concerned by security of personal information and online payments):

• 89% - avoid disclosing personal information online,
• 74% - think that the risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime has increased in the past year,
• 59% - does not feel well informed about risks of cybercrime,
• 40% - is concerned about someone misusing their personal data,
• 38% - is concerned about security of online payments,
• 12% - experienced online fraud,
• 8% - had their identity stolen,

at the same time:

• 53% - have not changed any of their online passwords during the past year!!

Other findings:

• 53% - buy goods or services online,
• 52% - use social networking services,
• 48% - bank online,
• 29% - is not confident about their ability to purchase online or bank online,
• 20% - sell goods or services online,

Pursuant to the proposal of the European Commission of March this year, the European Cybercrime Centre is to be set up as of January 2013 (An EU Cybercrime Centre to fight online criminals and protect e-consumers and A European response to cybercrime). It will aim at protecting internet users from organised crime groups, targeting e-banking etc. It will also try to better protect social network profiles from identity theft, child sexual abuse and other cyber-attacks. Additionally, as of September 2010 works continue on a proposal for a Directive to deal with new cyber-crimes.

Consumers may remain passive while obtaining information about right of withdrawal - CJEU case C-49/11 (Content Services)

5 July 2012: the CJEU's case C-49/11 (Content Services)

The CJEU decided today that Article 5 of the Distance Selling Directive (97/7/EC) does not allow for service providers and sellers to convey information about, inter alia, a right of withdrawal to consumers only through a hyperlink placed on a website of the undertaking. Such a method does not fulfil the requirement of 'giving' the information to consumers, neither it can be said that consumers 'receive' the information, if an everyday meaning of these words is taken into account, that is the fact that consumers should not have to take any action in order to be provided with the information. (Par. 33-37) Moreover, a general website may not be seen as a 'durable medium' - for which there is another requirement in this provision. (Par. 43, 46, 49-50)

We have previously discussed the opinion of the AG Mengozzi in this case in details (Websites may be a click away from a durable medium), and since the CJEU followed his opinion we refer you, dear readers, to our previous post.

Basic bank account, one (small) step forward

Earlier this week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging the commission to legislate on universal access to a basic payment account for the 10% of EU citizens who still do not have one. In particular, the baisc account should be

- less expensive than any other options offered by the bank;

- open to anyone with no income requirements and no obligation to purchase additional products.

As we already said, it doesn't seem that "less expensive than other options" here means free: a feature which casts some doubts on the foreseeable impact of the (should-it-come) measure.

Goodbye ACTA!

Yesterday, as it was expected, the European Parliament rejected the ACTA. We have been posting about critical approach of all the commissions who have examined it, so the final verdict was basically just a formality. What may be interesting to notice is that by rejecting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the European Parliament for the first time ever exercised its Lisbon Treaty power to reject an international trade agreement. With only 39 of the MEPs voting for adoption of the ACTA, it had no chance to become law in the EU (165 MEPs abstained in protest of the Parliament deciding to take a vote before the verdict of the CJEU on the constitutionality of the ACTA).

It should be stressed that the possibility of adoption of the ACTA had mobilised many European citizens to actually get involved in the legislation process by starting a heavy lobbying of the MEPs. I wonder whether that means that times are a-changing and that we could expect in the future more citizen involvement in the works of the European institutions. (European Parliament rejects ACTA)

Passenger rights at hand

A friend of mine once brought her copy of the Civil Code to a store in order to get a pair of trousers replaced (and was successful). For European travellers in possession of a smartphone, as of today, it is possible to consult and invoke their rights in a similar, but digital way: As part of its 'your passenger rights at hand' campaign, the European Commission has launched a smartphone application that gives passengers the possibility to check their rights at any time. For more information and download options, please refer to the Commission's passenger rights website and the press release on the new app.

Investing consumers should be treated like/with (cross out inapplicable word) KIDs

Yesterday the European Commission presented a new legislative package that is supposed to restore consumers' faith in the financial services. It is an ambitious undertaking, no doubt, taking into account the consumer experience of the last few years with one financial crisis following another and big financial companies failing to provide much needed security and reliability. Many consumers found themselves in financial troubles due to wrong information or financial advice they had received, which often led them to invest in unsuitable for them financial products. To prevent this from happening again, an action at a European level was deemed to be necessary.

"In the aftermath of the biggest financial crisis in recent memory, the financial sector must place consumers at its heart. Retail products must be safer, information standards must become clearer, and those selling products must always be subject to the highest standards. That is why we have adopted a package solely dedicated to consumers, so that they can choose financial products based on clear and sound information and professional advice which puts the consumer's interests first." said Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier (Commission proposes legislation to improve consumer protection in financial services)

And so, the European Commission presented three new documents: a proposal for a regulation on key information documents for packaged retail investment products (PRIPS), a revision of the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD), and a proposal to boost protection for those who buy investment funds which is governed by the Directive on Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS). The first two of these documents are especially relevant for consumer protection so let's take a closer look at them.

PRIPS

Anyone who ever tried to make an investment knows that financial products are, ehm, complex (this really is too mildly put). In order for consumers to understand what they may expect from a given financial product and what risks they are taking on themselves the information provided to them has to be more transparent and comprehensive. This proposal aims at improving quality of such information by introducing a new, innovative standard for product information. It is intended to be short, plain-speaking and consumer-friendly. Every investment product (investment funds, insurance-based investments, retail structured products, private pensions, etc.) will need to have such a document attached to it. I just love the new name for it: KID - Key Information Document. Let's be honest, most of us have a childlike approach to financial matters - lots of faith in things ending up right even if we climb that highest (financial) tree branch without any security. Each KID will convey information on the product's main features, risks and costs associated with the investment in the product. The intention is to make it clear to consumers whether they can lose money on that product and to show them its complexity. Consumers will easily be able to compare KIDs of different investment products since they will follow the same structure, content, presentation. More information on this proposal may be found here.

IMD

Another matter that often leaves consumers flabbergasted is the risks associated with taking an insurance cover. Most often taking an insurance is seen as purchasing more security, without realising that it may also endanger consumers' interests. Anyone who studied law knows that insurance law is not a thing to trifle with, but consumers often remain blissfully unaware of its complexity. The EC aims at revising the IMD which regulates selling practices for all insurance products. Currently, the Directive applies only in cases when insurance was bought through an intermediary, but the revision aims at giving the same level of protection to consumers regardless of the character of the person they had purchased the insurance from. Moreover, sellers of insurance will need to inform consumers of their professional character, links to the insurance company as well as reveal their remuneration for selling an insurance cover. Most importantly, a professional, honest advice will have to be given to consumers interested in purchase of insurance products. Currently, more than 70% of insurance products are sold without appropriate advice. More information on this document may be found here.

How do consumers choose their financial products?

Leaving on a jet plane

Tomorrow, 4th of July, European Consumer Centres (ECC-net) will be offering advice to passengers at 28 airports across Europe. The purpose of the event is to inform European citizens of their air passenger rights, a topic that is among the ones most dealt with by ECC-net when helping consumers. According to recent data, in 2011 a fifth of the complaints that European Consumer Centres dealt with (5 600 of 28 000) concerned air travel:

'The main causes for complaint were cancelled flights (about 30% of the cases), delays (24%), lost or damaged luggage (15%), but also denied boarding, non-transparent prices and surcharges, technical problems in the booking process or unfair commercial practices.'

The ECC-net helped travellers reach amicable solutions with airlines in almost 50% of the cases.

More information is available in the European Commission's press release on tomorrow's event and on the ECC-net's website.

In the meantime, as air passenger rights are concerned, we await the CJEU's judgment in cases C-581/10 and C-629/10 (Nelson and Others, TUI Travel and Others) (a summary of AG Bot's opinion in these cases appeared on this blog earlier).

Consumers may report suspected adverse drug effects

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) published yesterday information about the new pharmacovigilance legislation that came into force, after having been adopted in December 2010 (Directive 2010/84/EU and Regulation No. 1235/2010). The goal is to better protect public health in Member States by strengthening the EU system for medicines safety. On the one hand, it will influence consumers just by limiting the number of unnecessary risks that they are exposed to when taking medicines. This will be achieved by increasing control mechanisms over medicines and making them more transparent. The second effect on consumers is more direct, namely as of now patients are supposed to be more involved in the regulatory process. This includes patients being able to directly report suspected adverse drug effects.

"The new pharmacovigilance legislation will help us to make the system more robust for public health and more transparent. It gives regulators a range of new or improved tools to ensure that patients are not exposed to unnecessary risks when taking medicines. It also increases the efficiency of medicines regulation for the benefit of all stakeholders." said Guido Rasi, EMA's Executive Director (New pharmacovigilance legislation comes into operation)