Press releases

German consumer group Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv) and Volkswagen (VW) have reached an out-of-court settlement to compensate drivers affected by the 2015 Dieselgate emissions scandal. This is the result of a model case (“Musterfeststellungsklage”) launched by vzbv against the car maker on behalf of more than 400,000 consumers.

Six consumer groups from the BEUC network tested 250 electrical goods, toys, cosmetics and other products bought from online marketplaces such as Amazon, AliExpress, eBay and Wish. They selected the products based on possible risks and found that 66% of them fail EU safety laws with possible consequences such as electric shock, fire or suffocation.

In its 2020 work programme, which the European Commission presented today, it announced the adoption of an EU consumer agenda. The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) welcomes this commitment to replace the current agenda which dates back more than seven years.

New rules become applicable across the EU on Friday 17 January which will give national authorities more teeth to go after companies which break consumer law across national borders and to act jointly, and thus more efficiently, in case of infringements in several countries.