Press releases

Following thousands of complaints from upset airline passengers, BEUC – and 11 of its member organisations – have reported some major airlines to national consumer protection authorities and the European Commission for breaching passenger rights and for using unfair commercial practices. BEUC and its members are also asking for a broad investigation of the sector regarding wide-spread unfair practices during the last few months.

In 2019, more than 2,000 notifications of non-food products were made to the EU’s rapid alert system (Safety Gate) as failing safety requirements. Each notification may represent thousands of faulty products. Toys, motor vehicles and electrical appliances were the product groups with most notifications. The figure could well be an undercount, as many dangerous products are possibly not identified.

BEUC applauds the European Commission’s decision to launch infringement proceedings today against ten countries (Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece, France, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia), for breaching EU law on reimbursement for cancelled travel due to Covid-19.

The EU institutions approved a law which would allow citizens in all EU countries to go to court as a group if they have suffered the same damage. Consumer groups have been advocating for such a law for more than 30 years.