100 posts
Let's be safe
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Part of consumer protection laws introduced in Europe deal with product liability and consumer safety. As of 1 November 2012 new set of such consumer safety rules came into force in the EU, concerning motor vehicles safety. (Regulation 661/2009) This...
Towards removing hurdles to single market
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The European Parliament adopted yesterday a non-binding resolution addressing consumers' concerns with regards to the single market. In the resolution the Members of the European Parliament point out specific cases in which the lack of sufficient, un...
Cypriot NRA finalises draft Decree on conumer protection
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OCECPR has issued its final version of the draft Decree (in greek) on consumer protection, prescribing the info that operators have to include in their bills and make publicly available and providing measures for consumer protection as regards PRS.
Tackling food waste and losses in the EU
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Up to 50% of food gets wasted in EU households, supermarkets, restaurants and along the food supply chain each year, while 79 million EU citizens live beneath the poverty line and 16 million depend on food aid from charitable institutions. The public...
The Tory-led Coalition goes against Tory MEPs on food labelling
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The British government today went against their own Tory MEPs and decided to recommend the ‘traffic light’ system for food labelling to retailers and manufacturers in the UK. It is tragic and to our great shame that obesity rates are &#...
Public affairs, sushi and dreams of England
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A little known fact about me is that for one dark summer I worked six nights a week over a ten week period making sushi for one of the UK’s leading supermarket chains. Yes, you’ve guessed it. I grew up in England’s sushi capital; Worksop, North...
Call to the PM Erdogan: Stop your government’s proposed “Death Camps” for stray animals!
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I just signed the following petition addressed to: The Prime Minister of Turkey Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan. —————- Stop Turkey’s proposed Death Camps for stray animals! Dear Mr Prime Minister We have been shocked and outr...
Global recall
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A new OECD internet portal that was launched in Brussels today allows consumers to check information on products that have been taken off the market because of safety problems. The portal will be fed by the input of consumer authorities worldwide, wh...
Seduction by Contract
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NYU Professor Oren Bar-Gill just published a book on the legal, economic and psychological aspects of consumer contracts. The introduction to the book, entitled 'Seduction by Contract', is available on SSRN and may be summarised as follows: 'Consu...
Policy Brief: Food Waste
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Tackling food loss and waste could make a significant contribution to combating hunger and increasing farm incomes where it is needed most. One-third of all food produced for human consumption worldwide is lost or wasted. That translates into 1.3 bil...
"When Policy ignores Evidence: Badgers and Austerity" by Simon Wren-Lewis
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In the wood next to our house live at least one fox and maybe some badgers. We have seen badgers around, but it was only this summer that we first saw a badger walking (or more accurately sniffing) its way through our garden. It caused great exciteme...
Fur is only natural on the animal that was born with it | Mimi Bekhechi
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It's wrong to defend this cruel industry in which suffering and abuse is rifeHannah Betts admits that her stance on fur "foxes people" (Happy to do skin, 19 September). It should. Betts's defence of the undeniably cruel fur industry includes numerous...
Kicking the car industry out of the driving seat
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Imagine a band of brigands so depraved, it steals food from the poor and gives it to the better-off. Imagine that the band has been condemned by all kinds of "respectable" organisations but waits for several years before making any amends. The Euro...
Meble do kuchni jak zakupić przez internet
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Kupienie szafek kuchennych jest przebiegiem zawiłym oraz pracochłonnym. Ktokolwiek kto chodź raz nabywał kolejne meble kuchenne internet wie ile to zaprząta czasu oraz nerwów, poruszanie się po salonach w poszukiwaniu salonu w jakim natrafimy...
Wymiana mebli kuchennych
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Wraz z upływaniem czasu w obrębie Warszawy zakładanych jest coraz to więcej salonów, w których istnieje możność nabycia szafek do własnej kuchni. Jest to toteż niezwykle ciekawe wyjście, dzięki któremu da się wybitnie wiele uzyskać. P...
Boosting confidence and growth
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Today the Council of the EU adopted a resolution: "A European Consumer Agenda - Boosting confidence and growth" in reply to earlier Communication of the European Commission of 22 May 2012. (The New Consumer Agenda) The Council welcomes the...
Denial is not the right way to avoid troubles...
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... at least not for airlines. On October 4, the CJEU issued two decisions which help clarify the scope of Regulation 261/04 on Denied Boarding, also in relation to its predecessor Regulation 295/91 (repealed).While Regulation 295/91 was explicitl...
Increasing food production in the poorest countries to reel in prices
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According to recent updates by Reuters, EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has said that building strategic agricultural stocks to curb market volatility, as proposed by France, would not be the most effective way to tame food prices.
Cable Bill too High? Move to Europe
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If you’ve been looking for an excuse to migrate to Europe well then here is one more reason that you might not have considered: your cable bill, which is almost certain to be much cheaper if you’re living anywhere on the continent. And no...
The Importance Of Having Vets For Your Pets
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Vets Houston is health care practitioners who tend to animals which are inflicted with any kind of condition. They can diagnose and treat many types of illness and conditions which are likely to animals. It is also their duty to … Continue read...
How Your Vet Can Help in the Prevention and Treatment of Canine Distemper
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Apart from you, your dog has to have a second best friend. In most cases that friend is a vet Seattle. These doctors will do what they can to prevent diseases from inflicting your dog. When they do get inflicted, … Continue reading →...
What to Consider When Choosing a Vet
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A Carmel vet is a type of doctor whose expertise is mainly on carrying out treatment for various types of animals. Many professionals of this career specialize their services to particular animals only. For instance, some restrict their services to &...
Maintaining the flavour
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The European Commission adopted today two new regulations (No 872/2012 and No 873/2012) concerning the use of flavouring substances in the EU. Various flavouring substances are added to food to improve or alter the taste, odour and other attributes o...
Choosing the Right Pet Hospital
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When it comes to choosing the most excellent Santa Barbara pet hospital, it is necessary to find one before an emergency situation takes place. In case of emergency, the health care facility’s availability, hours, and location should be accessi...
Radical Simplicity and the Middle-Class – Exploring the Lifestyle Implications of a ‘Great Disruption’
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See on Scoop.it – The Great Transition “How would the ordinary middle-class consumer – I should say middle-class citizen – deal with a lifestyle of radical simplicity? By radical simplicity I essentially mean a very low but bi...
How To acquire Your Photo Taken For A Polish Passport
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A Polish passport is a vital record that shows you are really a citizen of the European Union. This is probably one of the greatest factors why you should get a passport if you are a dual citizen because you can benefit from all the legal rights as w...
EU vill införa kassettavgift på molntjänster
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Varje gång du köper en ny hårddisk för att spara dina egenproducerade hemmavideos och semesterbilder på, måste du betala en avgift till insamlingssällskapen (typ STIM eller SAMI). Den är inbakad i priset på hårddisken. Samma sak gäller min...
Plain packaging and the European Commission: is there a mixed message?
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Plain packaging but no need for a health warning? Christo's Reichstag Proposals for standardised packaging of tobacco products, which not so many years ago were regarded as little more than a distant threat, have become reality in Australia and look...
Slovak Telekom Scraps iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Ahead of Friday Launch
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Slovak Telekom AS, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG and owner of one of Slovakia's two leading cellular operators, Thursday said it has scrapped plans to allow its clients to pre-order the iPhone 5 before the high-profile smartphone by Apple Inc. goes o...
More justice (and money) for consumer protection?
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This month BEUC published an interesting position paper on Re-directing Justice. This paper encourages the European Commission to redirect portions of fines that it collects when monitoring infringements in EU competition law. Some of this money shou...
Che Guevara on Everything From Beer Mugs and Flip Flops to Santa Hats and Russian Dolls Through Dog Jackets and Pink Underpants
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From Switzerland, Le Monde's Michel Guerrin brings back an article on René Burri, the Swiss photographer whose photo of Che Guevara has been pilfered on a thousand objects, from curtains to bikinis, 160 of which have been assembled in a Vevey exhibi...
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)
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According to the Directive 2001/18/EC genetically modified organism (GMO) “means an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural re...
Consumer trust in an ever more complex landscape
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As with fashion, interiors, technology and baby names, PR and marketing strategies and tactics tend to move in cycles. However, whilst the past few years have been about brands delivering engagement, creating advocacy and driving credibility, one of...
Back-and-forth discussion on Food Security
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Just weeks before the European Development Days 2012 is set to take place, Debating Europe raises awareness over food security. The platform, which aims to provoke as much back-and-forth discussion as possible between the readers and experts, asks:
Men drive car insurance prices up
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Last month we mentioned that the new interpretation of the Gender Directive of 2004 forces the insurers to abandon their current rules on calculating insurance premiums on the basis of gender. (Is living longer still worth it?) While women could and...
EU court case says EU bloc already approved GMOs
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Last week, in a ruling from the European Court of Justice, it was determined that genetically modified crops cannot be subject to individual nation’s authorization because the European bloc already approved their use and marketing.
Pamper Your Locks While Visiting Spain
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Many people find that they have so many day-to-do commitments that there just isn't the time in their busy schedule to fit in hair and beauty treatments. This coupled with the fact that many spas and beauty salons in the UK are over-priced, is perhap...
How can we ensure global food security?
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Ultimately, what matters most is “bread and butter” politics. It’s easy to obsess about the current state of Europe’s economy, but there’s no shortage of other challenges facing the world right now; issues like energy s...
Guest blogger: Monique Clark on the Italian-American “Gravy” vs. the American “Sauce”!
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At my invitation on one of my former posts (August 12) for guest bloggers who want to share an aspect …Continue reading »...
Kroes seeks cure for constipation over Twitter
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When your ducts are outdated, the increase in content can create blockages. The solution? More fibre, natch. Europe's commissioner for telecoms stuff passed that message on this week over that there twitter, giving momentum to an "I WANT FIBRE" cam...
New regulations on food labelling coming up: further protection for traditional and regional products
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European Parliament has accepted new regulations for food labelling. The regulations aim to better protect and give clearer information, particularly on the issues of traditionally manufactured and regionally manufactured products. The regulations...
Why Hair Extensions Are Important To Women
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Do you want to see and experience the feeling wearing the hair extensions? Do you have that admiration on women who are so stunning with their respective long and natural hair? If you are indeed left in awe by these gorgeous looking women, then you c...
Unfair gas prices increase even if properly notified? - AG Trstenjak in RWE Vertrieb (C-92/11)
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13 September 2012: Opinion AG Trstenjak in RWE Vertrieb (C-92/11) Advocate General Trstenjak issued an opinion today on the interpretation of the provisions of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive 93/13. Unfortunately, it is not yet available in En...
The role of water accounts in water resources management
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Water accounting is the ultimate step in the implementation of water resources management system. It goes further that modeling which is aimed at understanding better the problems and the interactions. As for as business bookkeeping, water accounts h...
No such thing as 'easily digestible' wine - CJEU in Deutsches Weintor C-544/10
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6 September 2012: CJEU judgement in Deutsches Weintor (C-544/10) Last Thursday the CJEU decided that wine producers may not label or market their wine as 'easily digestible' even if that 'health claim' is correct. In order to protect consumers...
Ministers to discuss possible measures to tackle water scarcity
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This week Cyprus hosts the Informal Agriculture meeting. Ministers will especially discuss on water scarcity and land abandonment, both linked to adverse climate conditions. As the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is ongoing, the attent...
Sharp price increases for food products can be avoided
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Following sharp price increases for some food products such as maize, wheat and soybeana, fears are mounting of a repeat of the 2007-2008 world food crisis. In light of some uneasiness, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of...
Deeming food waste a major issue
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Following some intensive discussion in Germany about discarding food, Ulrich Koester, examines the methodology of identification of food loss and the magnitude of estimated quantities and values. The post, published at the website ‘CAP reform’, q...
Factors to Consider When Picking an Animal Hospital
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One of the most important decisions you can make as a pet owner is to choose the right animal hospital in San Jose. By being choosy during the process of selection, you make sure that your pet will receive the … Continue reading →...
Bart: A Belgian Lightweight
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A prominent Belgian politician spills the beans on how he lost 60 kilograms.
How citizens changed EU law…
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Get the amazing Info Graphic about the FairRoaming campaign here! Europeans for Fair Roaming has been instrumental in once again bringing down roaming charges in Europe, as the campaign evaluation done by us over summer has shown. Over the time ̷...
Talking about money
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Last week the Internal Market Committee of the European Parliament announced its doubts as to the sufficiency of the budget proposed for the 2014-2020 Consumer Programme. So far, 197 million euro was budgeted for proposed developments, mainly as far...
Vers une révision des systèmes de qualité des produits agricoles
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Le recours à des dénominations de qualité permet aux agriculteurs de valoriser l’excellence ou l’authenticité de leurs productions. La politi-que européenne qui promeut la qualité des produits agricoles et alimentaires de par leurs...
Tricks to Finding Good Veterinarians
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Locating good Dallas veterinarians is a necessary part in keeping your pet healthy and happy. They are trained to conduct routine checkups to assess the general health of the animal and will be able to provide treatment if he is … Continue read...
Factors to Consider When Searching for a Veterinary Clinic
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There are several factors that you may need to consider when trying to choose a Fishers veterinary clinic where you can take your pets. Among the most common considerations are the location, offered services, payment methods, reputation, and the type...
'Everything must go' - on pre-requirements to announce sale - AG Trstenjak in C-206/11 Köck
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6 September 2012: Opinion of the Advocate General Trstenjak: C-206/11 (Köck) Yesterday, there was also an opinion issued in consumer law related case C-206/11 (Köck). The case concerned interpretation of the scope of the Unfair Commercial Pra...
Wedge Sneakers are Now the 1st Choice of Fashion Savvy Women
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We have to admit that women are lot more fashionable than men. Women love to do shopping. If you see their wardrobes, then you will find that they are FULL. In fact, some women are so crazy that they do … Continue reading →...
Timex tut in style
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Media, fashion bloggers and retailers came together for a fashion first from Brand at MHP’s client Timex last night. Brought on board to help make a younger audience think differently about the brand and showcase the watchmaker’s style credential...
Ensuring integrity of financial benchmarks
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The European Commission opened today a new public consultation related to the production and the use of indices serving as benchmarks in financial and other contracts. (Consultation on benchmarks and market indices launched following LIBOR manipulati...
Travel agents may not automatically include insurance
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A travel agent may not automatically include travel insurance when selling airline tickets. Such “optional extras” may only be offered on an “opt-in” basis. The EU Court of Justice followed its advocate-general, Jan Mazák, in...
Duty to warn clients in construction sector
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Imagine you are building a house for your family. You've hired a builder and an architect. After months of work, you are about to move in when after a storm you discover your roof is leaking. Let's say the architect made a mistake and forgot to add a...
Sharing radio spectrum would benefit consumers
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While internet is growing, the regulations that allow to maximise its use have sometimes some catching up to do. For example, in order to introduce and use wireless broadband services a certain radio spectrum needs to be used. The problem is that the...
A sad day for Europe: "We are heading for a dictatorship of bureaucrats"
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Warning: You are a criminal if you import one of these to an European Union member country!Yesterday was a sad day for Europe. Since September 1, 2012, it is illegal to manufacture or import traditional incandescent light bulbs in EU memb...
No Guilt at Citibank
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In the days leading up to Labor Day 2012, Citigroup announced that the bank would pay $590 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by stockholders who contended that the bank’s management as well as some directors had misled the stockholders about...
