Press releases

BEUC welcomes a call today by European Commissioner for Justice, responsible for consumer protection, Didier Reynders, for Member States to work on solutions to address the problems of the travel and tourism industry due to COVID-19 but to respect European consumers’ rights.

The current pandemic is a stress test for our health care systems and sky-high medicines prices are one of the problems that need solving. As vaccines, testing kits and treatments are urgently needed to tackle COVID-19, BEUC urges the EU to ensure that public funding into treatment research results in medicines that are affordable to all. Experience shows that public investment in medicines research − such as cancer drugs − does not always ensure fair prices.

Consumers are facing enormous economic difficulties due to the COVID-19 health crisis. They are under increasing pressure due to job losses and are worrying about how they will pay their bills. At the same time, BEUC members across Europe are being inundated with consumer complaints about their travel rights being undermined.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said today that supporting a travel sector deeply hit by the Coronavirus crisis and upholding consumers’ rights in case of cancellations should not be a trade-off. In order to mitigate the economic impact of the Coronavirus travel bans and lockdowns, some EU Member States are considering measures to help package travel operators who may face reimbursement claims due to cancellations.