DIGITALEUROPE reacts to Plenary adoption of the Omnibus proposal

During today’s Plenary session, the European Parliament adopted the agreement reached in trialogues on the Commission’s proposal for a Directive on better enforcement and modernisation of EU consumers rules, also known as the Omnibus proposal, closing the file in record time.

“The digital industry welcomes the modernisation of existing consumer legislation and strongly supports better and more effective consumer protection within the Single Market. However, we regret to see minimum harmonisation provisions that encourage fragmentation of the market and difference in treatment for consumers and companies depending on where they decide to live or operate in Europe. We urge the EU institutions to systematically support the principle of maximum harmonisation in all future legislation” said Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, DIGITALEUROPE’s Director-General.

This is not the first time where EU institutions choose minimum harmonisation in the area of consumer legislation. Maximum harmonisation is a necessary pre-condition for establishing a true, fair and viable Digital Single Market. By enabling Member States to introduce widely diverging provisions, including on transparency requirements and penalties, the EU institutions missed an opportunity to align national rules on consumer protection and tear down barriers to eCommerce.

We strongly recommend EU legislators to put an end to this trend in all future legislation in this area and promote the ambitious and much necessary principle of maximum harmonisation. DIGITALEUROPE looks forward to closely working with the EU institutions towards this goal.