From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications are seeking views from stakeholders and interested parties on a proposed EU Directive which aims to enhance consumer rights by amending Directives 2005/29/EC (Unfair Commercial Practices) and 2011/83/EU (Consumer Rights).
The proposal aims to contribute to a circular, clean and green EU economy by enabling consumers to take informed purchasing decisions and therefore contribute to more sustainable consumption. It also targets unfair commercial practices that mislead consumers away from sustainable consumption choices. The draft directive was published by the EU Commission on 30 March 2022 as one of the initiatives of the New Consumer Agenda and the Circular Economy Action Plan and follows up on the European Green Deal.
Empowering consumers and providing them with cost-saving opportunities is a key building block of the sustainable product policy framework. This is to be achieved through the improved participation of consumers in the circular economy, in particular by providing better information on the durability and reparability of certain products to consumers before concluding the contract and stepping up the protection of consumers against unfair commercial practices that prevent sustainable purchases, such as:
The draft directive will undergo the normal legislative process through the European institutions and the draft directive, annex and supplementary information can be found at Proposal for a directive on empowering consumers for the green transition and annex (europa.eu). The proposal is currently being discussed at Council Working Party Group.
Views from interested parties on the draft directive are requested no later than close of business on Friday, 17 February 2023.
Submissions should be marked 'EU directive on empowering consumers for the green transition' and can either be emailed to conspol@enterprise.gov.ie or sent in hard copy to the Competition and Consumer Policy Unit, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, 1 Earlsfort Centre, Lower Hatch St., Dublin 2, D02 PW01.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that information provided to the department may be disclosed in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2014. Therefore, should you consider that any information you provide is commercially sensitive, please identify same, and specify the reason for its sensitivity.
The department will consult with you regarding information identified by you as sensitive before making a decision on any Freedom of Information request.
Any personal information, which you volunteer to this department, will be treated with the highest standards of security and confidentiality, strictly in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018.
The department may also decide to place any submissions received by it on the department’s website. A decision on any such placement may occur without prior consultation with respondents to this process. Thus, it is in the interests of respondents to highlight, in their submissions, any commercially sensitive or confidential information at the time of submission.
Further information may be obtained by contacting the Competition and Consumer Protection Unit of the department by emailing conspol@enterprise.gov.ie