Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Ref. Ares(2024)6672967 - 20/09/2024
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
High-level round table meeting with the representatives of
the signatories of the product safety pledge
Opening remarks and briefing
Scene setter
• You are meeting with high-level representatives of
9 signatories of the Product Safety
Pledge in an online format (
the detailed list of attendance is in Annex I of this briefing).
Wish and Etsy could not be represented at this meeting, but you recently met with
Etsy on 9 November 2021.
• During the meeting you will have a chance to exchange with the representatives on their
experience with the implementation of the current Product Safety Pledge, and
its
potential extension to a wider Consumer Law Pledge.
• The order of the meeting is as follows:
o 11:05-11:15: Your welcome speech
o 11:15-11:50: 3-5 minute interventions from each of the 9 signatories (in
alphabetical order of the online marketplaces)
o 11:50-12:10: Open discussions
o 12:10-12:15: Closing of the meeting
•
(DG JUST) will moderate the interventions from the signatories and
the open discussions part.
The Product Safety Pledge and its future extension
• With the adoption of the Commission’s proposals for the DSA and the GPSR, the
question about the future of the Product Safety Pledge arose. The signatories expressed
the idea to enlarge its scope to include other relevant stakeholders into this cooperation
under a revamped Pledge (some suggested to follow the example of the Memorandum of
Understanding to fight counterfeiting). The Commission proposed to the signatories to
explore also the idea of extending the current pledge to other consumer law areas, e.g. on
online fairness and consumer law enforcement.
• During this autumn, DG JUST experts held intense
technical level discussions with the
signatories of the current Pledge on its potential extension to other consumer law areas as
part of a horizontal
Consumer Law Pledge. They proposed
three independent building
blocks on which the signatories could adhere independently:
1.
Online fairness;
2. Consumer law
enforcement;
3. Revised commitments regarding
product safety (
See Annex III of this briefing a
non-paper we shared with signatories in October on proposed new commitments
and performance indicators)
• Regarding the timeline, DG JUST expressed the wish to obtain progress on new
commitments by the Consumer Summit in February 2022.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
• You might also remind the signatories that on the same day in the afternoon, DG JUST is
organising
the first ever Annual Digital Consumer Event. One of the themes of this
event is a wide stakeholder discussion on potential voluntary commitments of online
marketplaces in the consumer law area. This open discussion could also provide valuable
input for this process.
•
GPSR and DSA:
• Some of the participants might also use this meeting to provide you with their feedback
on the DSA and GPSR proposals.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
Opening remarks
• Good morning to all and thank you for your presence today.
•
In 2018, four online marketplaces – AliExpress, Amazon,
eBay and Rakuten France – voluntarily pledged their
commitment to increase the safety of products sold online.
•
Today, you are 11 taking part in our Product Safety Pledge. In
the last reporting period, 97% of products identified via public
recall websites, such as EU Safety Gate, were removed within
two working days.
• This is an
outcome we can be proud of. I want to say a big
thank you, on behalf of the European Commission for your
commitment.
• We talk a lot about legislation but we know that voluntary
initiatives really work. This pledge is the proof. This is why I
am
keen to extend the Product Safety Pledge further and why
I am happy to have you here with me today.
• For example, could we have voluntary pledges to ensure online
reviews are fair?
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
• Could companies like yours pledge to design their online
interfaces in a fair way for consumers?
• Could companies pledge to cooperate with enforcers to tackle
the problem of misleading green claims for example?
• I know that you are facing
changes in the legislative
landscape, not least following the proposals for a Digital
Services Act and a General Product Safety Regulation.
• Shortly the Commission will also make a proposal to have EU-
wide rules on sustainable corporate governance. And we will be
making a proposal to ensure that consumers are empowered to
make sustainable choices and contribute to achieving the
objectives of the European Green Deal.
• These are all very necessary developments. Take the GPSD as
an example. The General Product Safety Directive, was adopted
in 2002 when only nine percent of Europeans were shopping
online.
• Last year, seventy-two percent of internet users shopped online
in the EU and the sale of new digital products has grown in
parallel. This legislation needs to cover these products.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
• I’ll give you another example. 85% of respondents to a recent
Commission survey said they were unsatisfied or only partially
satisfied with the environmental information available to them.
• One of the reasons frequently given was that they felt
information was generally not sufficient to support consumer
decision-making. We also know that greenwashing and planned
obsolescence are very real problems which directly hinder our
chances of a sustainable future.
• EU legislation needs to address this. This is what we will shortly
propose.
• In the meantime,
voluntary commitments from companies are
already making a big difference.
• For example, the
Green Consumption Pledge – which is the
Product Safety Pledge’s sustainable cousin – has encouraged
major EU companies to make new commitments to improve
their sustainability.
• In short, my message to you is that we
cannot afford to wait
for legislation to catch up to reality. And nor do we have to.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
• I know you know this as your companies have already gone
above and beyond to protect consumers while we ensure that
product safety legislation is fit for the digital era.
• So I want to
make the Product Safety Pledge bigger and
better, with the widest support and ideas.
• This afternoon, DG JUST is also organising the first ever
Annual Digital Consumer Event where we will also share our
ideas for extending voluntary cooperation to other topics.
• Of course we can’t do this without you so I look forward to
hearing your thoughts today.
• Thank you!
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
DEFENSIVES
Product Safety Pledge
Why do you propose to extend the current Product Safety Pledge to a more horizontal
Consumer Law Pledge?
• The experience of the current Product Safety Pledge clearly showed that the Pledge
improved the consumer protection against dangerous products sold by third party
sellers on online marketplaces.
• For example according to the last progress report (covering the period of December
2020 to May 2021) we could see that signatories removed, within two working days,
97% of identified product listings found through the monitoring of public recall
websites, such as the EU Safety Gate. And this meant the removal of more than 27
thousands of problematic listings.
• Based on this good experience we are proposing to reflect together on the potential to
include new consumer law areas into this voluntary cooperation mechanism, such as
on digital fairness or a more enhanced consumer enforcement cooperation.
• This would allow signatories to go for the extra mile also in these wider consumer law
issues. It would be a win-win situation as they could also use the Pledge to increase
their consumers’ trust.
How do you see the relationship between voluntary commitments and legislation?
• The Product Safety Pledge initiative is a strong example of how voluntary cooperation
between online marketplaces, market surveillance authorities and the Commission can
contribute to product safety at EU level. I strongly believe in the importance of
cooperation as one of the most powerful ways to sort widespread issues.
• I believe that initiatives such as the Pledge can help us identify new ways to go the
extra mile to protect consumers based on voluntary commitments subscribed by
businesses. And I see strong potential for such commitments also in other consumer
areas such as in digital fairness or enforcement cooperation on consumer issues.
• However, we also need a strong legislative framework, as we proposed in the GPSR
and DSA proposal, tools to ensure that no dangerous product ends up in consumers’
hands. We also want a level playing field relevant for all players of the online
markets.
• I see also the voluntary cooperation initiatives, such as the Pledge, as an important
forum to test measures which later potentially could become part of the regulatory
framework. That’s why the experience with the current Pledge was so useful in
proposing the specific obligations of online marketplaces in the GPSR proposal.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
Why do you propose the extension in such a short timeline?
• With the adoption of the Commission’s proposals for the GPSR and the DSA, the
question about the future of the Product Safety Pledge arose.
• We want to make sure that this Pledge remains an important benchmark inviting and
recognising businesses going for the extra mile.
• We think there is a good potential to focus on certain new commitments already,
based on the active discussions signatories had with the Commission Services. This
would allow also signatories to benefit from the strategic moment and attention linked
to the Consumer Summit next February. This should not stop us from continuing this
work and completing it at a later stage.
• Our main aim is to do this extension right and that’s why we are inviting signatories
to share their views on our initiative.
What can the Commission do in case a signatory do not comply with the voluntary
commitments of the Pledge?
• Although the Commission is formally not a signatory of the Pledge, it steers the work
and has a political responsibility on its functioning and implementation.
• Should there be concerns with a signatory’s compliance with the twelve commitments
under the Pledge, or on their commitments towards consumer product safety in
general, the Commission would use all its tools to establish the facts and
circumstances of such case before discussing the issue further with the company.
• In case of serious problems, the Commission could also consider “suspending” the
signatory status of this online marketplace to safeguard the status and reputation of
the Pledge, and ensure that it can continue being a respectable benchmark in the
ecommerce sector.
Regarding the Ideas for potential first commitments under the Consumer law Pledge
A) Product Safety
Why do you propose to involve wider group of stakeholders into this cooperation?
• Consumer or industry associations and testing labs could provide useful input helping
online marketplaces to identify dangerous products or product groups for example by
organising regular structured information exchanges.
• I would also call on online marketplaces to consider developing transparent
conditions allowing interested consumer or industry associations and testing labs to
become trusted flaggers. Such close cooperation with them as trusted flaggers could
result in a swifter removal of unsafe products’ listings.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
Why do you focus on online marketplaces only regarding the commitments? You could
involve other stakeholders as signatories also into this cooperation, as it is done for the
MoU on counterfeits.
• Before signing the original Pledge back in 2018 the Commission has carefully studied
similar voluntary cooperation mechanisms.
• We finally followed the model of the EU Code of conduct on countering illegal hate
speech online, where only platforms became signatories of these important
commitments.
• We think that we should keep the focus on online marketplaces also in an enlarged
horizontal Consumer Law Pledge.
• This would not mean however that other stakeholders such as consumer or trade
associations could not play an important role in this voluntary cooperation: we could
explore new commitments facilitating their stronger involvement, for example in
detecting dangerous products online or signalling emerging consumer law issues.
Could online marketplaces do more in informing their consumers on product safety
rules and on who to turn to in case of disputes?
• It is essential that consumers know about their rights and know who to contact in case
they have a complaint regarding unsafe products they purchased.
• I would invite online marketplaces to pledge for providing information and contact
details regarding national consumer protection and market surveillance authorities
they can contact in case of product safety complaints, and to provide links to relevant
EU level initiatives such as the Safety Gate/RAPEX or the European Consumer
Centres.
Are there additional areas of product safety where you would welcome such voluntary
cooperation?
• These above points linked to product safety were of course just examples for potential
first commitments under the Consumer law Pledge.
• We would be happy discussing with you further angles of such cooperation, linked for
example to establishing risk management plans (including potentially random
sampling and testing), informing consumers effectively on recalls or on what more
could be done to enhance the safety of products sold directly by consumers to
consumers.
• I fully appreciate that these are more complex issues that would need further
reflection, therefore we could dedicate more time for discussing them after we agree
on the first commitments.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
B) Online fairness
Why do you plan to address online fairness in a pledge, rather than further developing
the Consumer law legal requirements?
• Consumer law remains our most important tool to fight unfair commercial practices
online. It was recently modernised with the Better enforcement and modernisation
Directive that will apply from May 2022
• As announced in the 2020 Consumer Agenda, before the end of this year the
Commission will update its guidelines on how to apply EU consumer law, as
amended, in particular in the digital area, such as consumer reviews, platform
obligations, influencer marketing, and dark patterns.
• The Commission will in 2022 also analyse whether any additional action is needed to
ensure more online fairness.
• But platforms have an important role in turning these legal provisions into reality for
consumers, because they are the places where businesses and consumers meet.
• With the pledge, I invite platforms – as market leaders - to act both in accordance
with and beyond the existing legislative requirements. In particular
o Platforms should help traders on their platforms to understand their
obligations;
o They should design their platform and processes in a way that makes it easier
for consumers to exercise their relevant EU consumer rights; and
o They should take concrete steps to ensure reviews are from real consumers
.
• Marketplaces will benefit themselves from these efforts as those will lead to more
confident consumers.
Why should the pledge cover also consumer reviews?
• Our latest Market Monitoring Survey showed that consumers are
more influenced by
reviews and ranking than by advertisements when shopping for products and
services such as holiday accommodation, home appliances or electronic products.
• Online reviews help consumers by offering them a reliable and independent peer
feedback, but today they have become a playground for
fraudulent activities and
do
not always reflect the experience of real consumers with the relevant product.
• Some Member States are already addressing the problems through the current general
EU consumer law on unfair practices. The revised Unfair Commercial Practices
Directive
sets out new specific provisions and clarifies the existing obligations.
•
In particular they require traders to take proportional steps to prevent and take
down fake consumer reviews. It is in particular in this context that Pledge
signatories – as market leaders - should agree on concrete measures, thus showing
best practices for the online market at large
• The aim of the pledge is not simply to confirm that the platforms will comply with the
new legal obligations on reviews, but to ensure their
commitment to improve the
consumer experience.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
How could platforms facilitate the exercise of consumer rights?
• There are many reports of
problematic practices in the digital area that prevent
consumers from exercising their rights or make this difficult.
• Platforms could help consumers by
improving their interfaces, for example by
making the exercise of the right of withdrawal easier.
• Platforms could also
provide better means of communication between consumers
and traders and be more proactive with respect to complaints handling.
Why should platforms commit to informing traders and require them to comply with
the law?
• More than 99% of businesses in the EU are SMEs. Most of them will not have a legal
department to advise them of their obligations.
• Platforms are the places where many small businesses operate, where they find their
customers.
• When such traders enter into a contract with a platform, the platform should take a
responsibility for ensuring that they are not only aware of their terms and conditions,
but also of their legal obligations.
• The Commission already offers resources for SMEs to learn about their obligations,
such as the Enterprise Europe Network and the Consumer Law Ready programme,
but support by the platforms would be greatly appreciated.
C) Enforcement
By regularly checking their online retailers’ compliance with EU consumer law online
marketplaces would risk losing their liability exemptions under the current e-commerce
Directive. This is why online marketplaces cannot make such a commitment.
• Regular own-initiative checks by online marketplaces would be a powerful tool for
platforms in their endeavour to ensure a safe digital environment for consumers – and
a clear demonstration of the marketplace caring for the safety of consumers.
• The topics for such checks would be determined by the online marketplace itself and
the marketplace would therefore have the possibility to clearly define the scope of the
checks.
• In the DSA proposal we have clarified that such checks cannot have the effect of
preventing the platform from relying on the harmonised liability exemptions, solely
because the platform carries out an own-initiative investigation.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
We agree that the cooperation between platforms, the Commission and the CPC
network on COVID-19 related consumer scams was very successful. But that
cooperation was based on exceptional circumstances and we should not now perpetuate
it outside the COVID-19 context.
• Our cooperation model on COVID-19 related consumer scams was a powerful tool
for swiftly protecting EU consumers from millions of illegal listings.
• I agree that the circumstances were exceptional. At the same time, we cannot exclude
that similar situations will arise also in the future.
• The idea of this commitment is therefore to, on a voluntary basis, maintain that
cooperation model for cases of systematic consumer scams where a large number of
traders engage in similar illegal commercial practices and a swift response is
necessary to protect consumers from such practices.
• The commitment would only concern such systematic consumer scams and
government notices would need to clearly outline and scope the illegal commercial
practices concerned.
• From the statistics we can consistently see that more than 70% of consumers are
exposed to scams and that a considerable share of consumers (10%) fall into the same
trap more than once.
• We can only tackle these problems by reinforcing cooperation between authorities
and platforms. I therefore count on your constructive spirit regarding this
commitment.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
BACKGROUND
Product Safety Pledge
The Product Safety Pledge was initially signed in June 2018 by 4 online marketplaces. Since
then 11 companies have joined the initiative (Allegro, AliExpress, Amazon, bol.com,
CDiscount, eBay, EMAG, Etsy, JOOM, Rakuten and Wish.com). It consists of twelve
commitments, which are listed below, relevant for product safety area. The negotiations of
the Pledge with the first four signatories took around two years.
Signatories of this Pledge report twice a year on their commitments. From these reports it is
apparent that the Pledge clearly improved the consumer protection against dangerous
products sold by third party sellers on online marketplaces. According to the fifth progress
report (covering the period of December 2020 to May 2021):
• signatories have removed 75% of identified product listings within two working days
following governmental notices.
• Moreover, within the same period 97% of identified product listings were removed
within two working days found through the monitoring of public recall websites,
such as the EU Safety Gate.
Based on this positive experience DG JUST is now exploring the extension of the Product
Safety Pledge to a horizontal Consumer Law Pledge consisting the following building blocks:
• Product Safety,
• Online fairness,
• Enforcement.
The potential extension of the Pledge will be discussed on a high level meeting between
Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge on 25 November
2021. On the same day DG JUST is organising the first Annual Digital Consumer Event,
which would touch upon the possible extension of the Pledge as well.
Areas for voluntary commitments of online marketplaces with respect to the safety of
non-food consumer products sold online by third party sellers under the current
Product Safety Pledge:
1. Consult information on recalled/dangerous products available on RAPEX and also
from other sources, such as from enforcement authorities. Take appropriate action in
respect to products concerned, when they can be identified.
2. Provide specific single contact points for EU Member State authorities for the
notifications on dangerous products (“notice”) and for the facilitation of
communication on product safety issues.
3. Cooperate with EU Member State authorities in identifying, as far as possible, the
supply chain of dangerous products by responding to data requests should relevant
information not be publicly available.
4. Have an internal mechanism for notice and take-down procedure for dangerous
products. This should include commitments from the marketplace’s side on the
procedure they will follow when notices are given by authorities and other actors.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
5. React within two working days to government notices made to the single contact
points to remove identified listings offering unsafe products for sale in the EU. Inform
the authorities on the action taken.
6. Provide a clear way for customers to notify dangerous product listings. Such notices
are treated expeditiously and appropriate response is given within five working days.
7. Provide information/training to sellers on compliance with EU product safety
legislation, require sellers to comply with the law, and provide sellers with the link to
the list of EU product safety legislation.
8. Cooperate with EU Member State authorities and sellers to inform consumers about
relevant recalls or corrective actions.
9. Cooperate with authorities and set up a process aimed at proactively removing banned
product groups as appropriate.
10. Put in place measures to act against repeat offenders offering dangerous products in
cooperation with authorities.
11. Take measures aimed at preventing the reappearance of dangerous product listings
already removed.
12. Explore the potential use of new technologies and innovation to improve the detection
of unsafe products.
Recent enforcement action of DG CCRF against Wish
On 24 November the French market surveillance authorities (DGCCRF) have made public
their enforcement action against Wish. Out of 140 products sold on Wish and analysed by
DGCCRF, a significant number had been identified as non-compliant. For example, 90 %
(amongst these 140 analysed products) of the electrical appliances analysed were considered
dangerous, as were 62 % of jewellery products and 45 % of toys. After informing the
platform of the presence of these illegal products, the DGCCRF found that, even after their
removal, they often reappeared under a different name.
As a result, DG CCRF asked search engines (such as Google) and some app stores to delist
the online platform Wish until the company brings its activities in compliance with the law.
This sanction follows the investigation carried out by the DGCCRF in 2020 and the results of
their 2021 annual study on online marketplaces (https://www.economie.gouv.fr/places-
marche-ligne-produits-dangereux-dgccrf).
The Commission Services are now establishing the facts of the case to see whether Wish acts
against the commitments it took as being signatory of the Product Safety Pledge.
In general it is important to outline that this issue raised by the Wish case reflects the fact that
the platforms in general are not subject to a general monitoring obligation, not do they have a
responsibility for the safety of product as such, which falls within the manufacturer. The
commitment to follow up on the Safety gate alerts does not prevent as such that unsafe
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
products occur on the online marketplaces. This is a problem, which other online
marketplaces face as well as reported by consumer organisations and DGCCRF as well.
Since December 2020 DG CCRF also sent alerts in Safety Gate/RAPEX on the following
dangerous product (categories) sold via Wish:
-
Jewellery: 29
-
Electric appliances: 11
-
Toys: 9
-
Clothing: 2
-
Construction products: 2
-
Cosmetics: 1
Ongoing CPC dialogue with Wish.com:
In November 2020, DGCCRF also opened criminal investigations against San Francisco
based company ContextLogic, operating Wish.com on the following issues:
•
Large number of dangerous products and counterfeits.
•
Economically unrealistic rebates of up to 90% and more for a large amount of
products.
In November 2021, the DGCCRF took interim measures on this basis to request the delisting
of Wish.com from search engine results.
In parallel, CPC authorities from Denmark, France and Italy, under the lead of the Dutch
authority, engaged in a dialogue with the company on the following consumer law issues, for
breach of professional diligence requirements under the UCPD:
•
Non-authentic discounts and unfair presentation of final prices (i.e. VAT/customs),
•
refund to consumers exercising their statutory consumer rights, e.g.. right to
withdrawal,
•
Information to consumers about their EU consumer rights, i.e. legal conformity
guarantee and the way of presenting the auxiliary and voluntary Wish.com refund policy,
•
Clear and prominent information on the fact that some prices may be personalised on
the basis of consumers’ personal data.
Wish.com offered satisfactory solutions to address these issues, some of which are already
implemented on their platform. There remains however the issue of information on
personalised pricing on which discussions with the company continue.
Possibility of addressing the proliferation of dangerous products under the CPC
Regulation
While there is no general monitoring obligation for platform providers to check content
provided by third parties traders on their platforms (as per the e-commerce Directive), a
significant proliferation of dangerous product, a fact the company cannot ignore, could be a
breach of the professional diligence expected from E-commerce platform. CPC authorities
could thus, to follow up on an alert still to be made by DGCCRF on the judgment published
yesterday, require Wish.com to take corrective action.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
The CPC Regulation obliges other competent authorities, e.g. product safety authorities, to
cooperate with their national CPC counterparts at their request. In this context, product safety
authorities could provide additional evidence to CPC authorities.
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
CDiscount
eBay
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Meeting - Commissioner Reynders and the signatories of the Product Safety Pledge
Virtual meeting, meeting room BER - JEAN REY -09/11/2021 11:00-12:15
