Consumer conditions in the EU : revised framework and empirical investigation

The European consumer policy aims at protecting and empowering consumers, and at creating a level playing field for businesses in the single market. The European Consumer Agenda (COM (2012) 225 final) defines four key 2020 objectives for consumer policy at the EU level: improved consumer safety; enhanced knowledge and awareness of consumer rights; effective enforcement of consumer laws and efficient ways to solve disputes; and the adaptation of consumer rights and policies to changes in society and in the economy. The pursuit of these objectives entails a dynamic regulatory process, as illustrated by the recent legislative initiatives of the European Commission (EC) in the field. As the EU cooperation and the regulatory efforts for consumer protection evolve, so do the tools used for monitoring these policies. The two main measuring tools employed by the European Commission for the monitoring of consumer outcomes across the Single Market are the EC Consumer Conditions Scoreboard and the EC Consumer Markets Scoreboard. Published regularly by the Consumers Directorate of DG Justice and Consumers, the two scoreboards are designed to reflect the latest developments in consumer conditions and markets across Member States based on data from surveys and other sources. Recently, the Consumers Directorate of DG Justice and Consumers commissioned the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to provide support for the conceptual and statistical revisions of the two scoreboards with the objective to further enhance their methodological robustness and to update them in line with the latest market and regulatory developments. This report includes the work performed by the JRC in the context of this cooperation for the conceptual and statistical revision of the first scoreboard, the EC Consumer Conditions Scoreboard. The report contains two parts. The first part provides an updated framework for measuring consumer conditions in the EU, including a revision of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard and of the EC consumers' and retailers' surveys related to it. Data from these revised EC surveys are used for the empirical investigation - including the analysis of the sample structure, the exploration of survey indicators, and regression analysis - and are presented in the second part of the present report.