Memorandum for the Polish Presidency, 2025

In this Memorandum we outline concrete proposals for how the Council of Ministers, together with the European Parliament, should legislate to achieve a high level of consumer protection and empowerment for the following files:

• Clean Industrial Deal: The upcoming Commission strategy should take into consideration consumers’
  needs and expectations regarding the uptake of clean technologies such as battery electric vehicles,
  heat pumps and solar panels. It should confirm the course set under the EU Green Deal and focus on
  setting the right enabling conditions in terms of financing, correcting contradictory price signals and
  competition policies to enable consumers to engage.
• Green Claims Directive: The proposed Directive should protect consumers from unverified claims and
  require companies to substantiate claims before they can be made public and put on the market. It
  should ensure that green claims are robust and trustworthy.
• EU´s general pharmaceutical legislation: The proposal focuses on enhancing access to more
  affordable medicines. Consumers across Europe encounter obstacles when attempting to obtain
  medication necessary for improving their health. Frequently, these medicines are either unavailable at
  pharmacies or are not reimbursed by public health agencies due to excessively high prices.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR): The proposal to review the current Directive aims to
  modernise and simplify rules on out-of-court dispute resolution as well as to adapt them to digital
  markets and empower consumers in the digital transition.
• The revision of the Package Travel Directive and the Passenger Rights initiatives: These proposals
  were published together as part of the ‘Passenger Mobility Package’. It is important to ensure these
  initiatives are coherent and provide a high level of consumer protection.
• AI Liability Directive: The EU needs to urgently modernise and further harmonise its civil liability rules
  to be better suited to the digital era. This initiative must ensure that consumers suffering harm from an
  AI system have access in practice to justice and redress.
• Savings and Investments Union: The objective is to incentivise consumers to invest their savings and
  to improve investment outcomes. Besides encouraging cross border competition, a low cost saving
  and investment product for consumers would help to achieve these aims and tackle the increasing
  pensions gap.
• Payment Services Directive and Regulation: Consumers are increasingly exposed to all sorts of online
  payment fraud so that it is becoming very difficult for them to know whether a transaction is legitimate
  or not. The review of the Payment Services Directive and Regulation offers a unique opportunity to
  develop a strong consumer protection framework against payment fraud and other fraudulent practices.
• Reform of EU Customs Policy: The reform aims to enhance consumer protection against dangerous
  products sold online and imported from outside the EU. Additionally, it should strengthen the
  enforcement of EU environmental standards, including Ecodesign, fostering more sustainable choices
  for consumers.
• Regulation on Toy Safety: The proposed Regulation should prevent children’s exposure to harmful
  chemicals, such as endocrine disruptors, in toys. It must also adequately address the risks arising from
  all types of sales channels and toys, including smart toys.
• Vision on Agriculture and Food: The Vision should take a food systems approach and spell out how the
  EU and Member States will make the healthy and sustainable food choice the easy and affordable one
  for consumers. We count on the Polish Presidency to facilitate progress on these and other initiatives
  mentioned in this Memorandum, with an assertive aim of delivering clear benefits to European
  consumers.