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ARTICLE · 21 OCTOBER 2018

EU Consumer Rights Enforcement—Penalties Ahead

Jones Day
Jones Day
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The REFIT Fitness Check of EU Consumer and Marketing Law, carried out on behalf of the EU Commission, and the evaluation of the Consumer Rights Directive by the EU Commission, both published in May 2017, ...

European UnionConsumer Protection
Edouard Fortunet
Edouard Fortunet
Henning Heinrich
Henning Heinrich
Christian Fulda
Christian Fulda
Sébastien Champagne
Sébastien Champagne
Nicholas Cotter
Nicholas Cotter
Jakob Guhn
Jakob Guhn
Jakob Hübert
Jakob Hübert
Anna Masser
Anna Masser
Ignacio Santabaya
Ignacio Santabaya
+4 more
Author LinkedIn connections

The Situation: The recent EU Commission proposal for a tightening of consumer protection regulations envisages, in one of its pillars, to step up government enforcement of EU consumer rules, including by introducing a harmonized ceiling of fines of 4 percent of the infringing company's turnover in the EU Member State(s) concerned.

The Plan: To increase deterrence through stronger rules on penalties, the EU Member States will be required to provide for sanctions for "widespread infringements" and "widespread infringements with a Union dimension." The strengthened rules on penalties will apply widely at the EU level and will be inserted in four directives pertaining to consumer protection.

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