SECURITY AND CITIZENS HIP

1. SECURITY AND CITIZENSHIP CONSUMER 2014-2020

2. OBJECTIVES The Consumer programme aims to contribute to protecting the health, safety and economic interests of European citizens. The programme intends to integrate consumer interests in all Community policies, and places a special focus on consumer protection and consumer awareness in the new Member States.

3. OBJECTIVES • The selected areas for actions are of three kinds: • Actions corresponding to legal obligations imposed by the Treaty and the existing EU acquis in the field of consumer protection on the EU and Member States • Actions which are not or could not be undertaken at national level because of their EU-level character • Actions complementing and enhancing the efficiency of measures undertaken at national level

4. OBJECTIVES • Ensure a high level of consumer protection (through better representation of consumer interests) • Ensure the effective application of consumer policy rules (through enforcement cooperation, information, redress and education) • Develop cooperation with international partners to deal with the impact of the globalisation of the production chain on product safety; • Support the production of EU-level comparable consumer markets data for benchmarking between Member States and input into EU-level policy-making; • Ensure EU-level representation of consumer interests by financially supporting EU-level consumer organisations; • Support awareness-raising campaigns on consumer issues and the training of national consumer organisations.

5. PROGRAMME STRUCTURE • Safety: to consolidate and enhance product Safety through effective market surveillance throughout the EU; • Information and education: to improve consumers' education, information and awareness of their rights, to develop the evidence base for consumer policy and to provide support to consumer organisations. • Rights and redress: to consolidate consumer rights in particular through regulatory action and improving access to redress including alternative dispute resolution. • Enforcement: to support enforcement of consumer rights by strengthening cooperation between national enforcement bodies and by supporting consumers with advice.

6. ACTIVITIES The programme will finance and maintain the: • RAPEX network: EU rapid alert system for all dangerous consumer products • CPC Network: Network of national enforcement authorities • ECC-Net: Network of European Consumer Centres

7. ACTIVITIES Objective 1 - Safety: • Scientific advice and risk analysis relevant to consumer health and safety regarding non-food products and services; • Coordination of market surveillance and enforcement actions on product safety • Maintenance and further development of databases on cosmetics;

8. ACTIVITIES Objective 2 – Information and Education: • Building the evidence base for policy-making in areas affecting consumers; • Support to consumer organisations; • Enhancing the transparency of consumer markets and consumer information; • Enhancing consumer education;

9. ACTIVITIES Objective 3 – Rights and Redress: • Preparation by the Commission of consumer protection legislation and other regulatory initiatives, • Facilitating access to and monitoring of the functioning and the effectiveness of dispute resolution mechanisms for consumers,

10. ACTIVITIES Objective 4 – Enforcement: • Coordination of surveillance and enforcement actions with regard to cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protections laws; • Financial contributions for joint actions with public or non-profit bodies constituting Union networks which provide information and assistance to consumers.

11. PARTICIPATION ELIGIBILE COUNTRIES • Member States • EEA countries • Candidate Countries • Western Balkan countries • Third countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy TARGET GROUPS Grants will be awarded for support activities mainly to Member States authorities and to public bodies or non-profit making bodies designated and co-financed by the Member States. Service contracts will be concluded in particular for studies, data collection, evaluation, training, information campaigns, IT and communication services, facilities management etc. The contractors will be mainly institutes, laboratories, consultancy firms and other private companies of which many SMEs..

12. PARTICIPATION SELECTION PROCEDURE • The budget will be implemented by centralised direct management, though parts of the implementation tasks of the programme might be delegated to the existing executive agency EAHC. This agency set up its own internal control system, is supervised by DG SANCO, and audited by the Commission's internal auditor as well as the Court of Auditors. • Joint management with international organisations (to be specified). Envisaged to support the OECD working party on product safety Characteristics of the selection process of projects: • Each call for proposals/tender is based on the annual Work Programme adopted by the Commission. In each call, the exclusion, selection and award criteria for selecting proposals/offers are published. • Against these criteria, an evaluation committee evaluates each proposal/offer observing the principles of independence, transparency, proportionality, equal treatment and non-discrimination

13. PARTICIPATION Where to find information at EU-level http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/strategy/programmes_e http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.int-opinio http://www.euissuetracker.com/en/eu-legislation/7672/consumer-policy-programme-%282014-2020%29ns.20978n.htm#programme2014