MEPs face fair trade blow from consumer chief Byrne

Date: 25/04/02

By Peter Chapman

DAVID Byrne is preparing to unveil new 'fair trade' plans that critics say would undermine the European Parliament's role in shaping EU consumer protection laws.

The Irish commissioner will, on 8 May, begin his campaign to give his department the same clout as Mario Monti's competition directorate, when he proposes new rules forcing firms to act fairly.

European Voice has obtained details of the final document detailing Byrne's intentions - a direct snub to MEPs who have yet to agree their own response to his 2001 green paper on the subject.

Crucially, these contain plans for an advisory committee governed by so-called 'comitology rules' that could bypass the Parliament and effectively allow Byrne's department to have the final say on future rule-setting.

'They deny Parliament,' confirms Ward Beysen, a Belgian Liberal who chairs the 'inter-group' of MEPs which focuses on commercial communications policy and is responsible for scrutinising separate proposals on sales promotions.

'It is most astonishing...I should not take this,' added Beysen, who said he would reserve further comment on the comitology issue until he had seen Byrne's proposals 'with his own eyes'.

Under the Byrne plan, a directive would oblige all EU firms to trade with their customers according to a common definition of 'fairness' in four areas: restricting misleading advertising, making sure consumers have sufficient information to make a choice, ensuring firms don't exert undue influence, and levels of after-sales service.

But this list would not be exhaustive. A regulatory committee could add extra areas that should be covered in future.

Critics argue this would deny industry legal certainty as new requirements were added to the list. They also say it could sideline the Parliament from the process - unless it demands, and wins, similar powers of oversight which it has over fast-track reforms to EU securities markets.

Even if Byrne wins support for his final proposals in the Parliament and Council of Ministers, industry lawyers say they would probably face a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice. Firms are likely to argue that the EU is, in general, only allowed to issue draft laws in areas where the single market is at stake.

They say the proposals could go the same way as the Commission's ill-fated attempt to ban tobacco advertising, which was thrown out by the Court following a challenge from Germany.

Byrne would have to prove that consumers' failure to understand complex and often contradictory foreign consumer protection laws is a serious problem affecting their willingness to buy goods and services elsewhere in the Union.

That could be a tall order, according to one Brussels-based lawyer who asked not to be named. But Byrne has already started to rehearse the argument.

'Byrne is making speeches citing Eurobarometer studies saying that consumers don't feel confident shopping across borders,' he said.

'The peasant bloke in Sicily doesn't go shopping in Germany because he doesn't understand the fair trade rules there - not because he doesn't speak the language or like the weather.'

A source close to Byrne, meanwhile, said there was 'no intention to snub MEPs,' adding the Parliament itself was responsible for falling behind the pace because MEPs had only just decided on rapporteurs for the green paper - UK socialist Arlene McCarthy and French socialist Beatrice Patrie.

Meanwhile, the aide said there was 'nothing unusual' in the comitology procedures Byrne plans to introduce.

European Commissioner David Byrne is preparing to unveil new 'fair trade' plans that critics say would undermine the European Parliament's role in shaping EU consumer protection laws.