EU consumers in a globalised market

Open markets can benefit consumers, who can choose from more products and services. Trade deals can increase the flow of products and services between markets. These deals traditionally focused on cutting protectionist import tariffs and quotas.

But trade deals have gone far beyond this and increasingly impact day-to-day consumer issues. Examples are data flows, protection of intellectual property rights or the regulation of chemical substances. Because of this, people have started to question them.

Consumer organisations have monitored trade negotiations for years. We make recommendations for the EU to make global markets benefit and protect consumers.

This publication is an abridged version of the paper "Beyond trade: EU consumers in global markets".