Press releases

One year ago, on 27 November 2018, consumer groups from across the EU filed GDPR complaints against Google for its location-tracking practices. Research from the Norwegian consumer organisation Forbrukerrådet showed that Google deceived users into unwittingly handing over their location data to the company and left them in the dark about how this data was being used.

The number of food controls and the resources allocated to them are dwindling across Europe. This is the worrying trend that emerges from the report ‘Keeping food in check’, published today by BEUC.

“Consumers must obtain a fair share of the considerable benefits of the digitisation of the economy”, said BEUC Director General Monique Goyens at the opening of BEUC’s 2 October conference on “Protecting Consumers’ Freedoms in the Digital Era”. “We therefore call on the incoming European Commission to take decisive action, building on the progress made in the last five years, to boost competition law enforcement and, where appropriate, propose ex ante regulation”.

The EU has just adopted the ‘Ecodesign’ package which will improve five types of products that most consumers own at home: lighting, fridges, TV screens, dishwashers and washing machines. Besides relying on less energy, the appliances will be easier to fix and, in some cases, safer. However, the measures should have gone further to make it easy for consumers to repair their goods.