Answer given by Mr De Gucht on behalf of the Commission
16.12.2011
EU legislation on unfair commercial practices prevents traders from engaging in misleading and aggressive commercial practices towards consumers. While the relevant directive[1] does not impose a positive obligation on the trader to indicate the origin in all cases, its provisions require that traders display in a clear, intelligible and timely manner material information that consumers need in order to make informed choices, including the main characteristics of the product offered for sale. It is the primary competence of the national authorities and courts to enforce this legislation.
In December 2005, the Commission put forward a proposal for a regulation on the indication of the country of origin of certain products imported from third countries[2], covering inter alia articles of furskin. Parliament largely supported the Commission proposal in a resolution adopted on 21 October 2010, together with a number of amendments. The Council continues to discuss this legislative initiative on that basis.
- [1] Directive 2005/29/EC of Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’) (Text with EEA relevance), OJ L 149, 11.6.2005.
- [2] COM(2005) 661 final.
OJ C 168 E, 14/06/2012