Is the significant diversity of prices of similar goods and services across the EU in each case justified by varied competition conditions? Is a long-term cooperation with a one provider always the result of a consumer’s informed choice? Attempting to answer those and other questions, the European Commission has devised the Consumer Markets Scoreboard

Representatives of the European Commission visited UOKiK in order to discuss their new consumer protection project. It envisages conducting detailed research of individual consumer markets in all 27 EU states. The results of the analyses will be published in the form of a Consumer Markets Scoreboard.

The research is to be used to identify markets where consumers are not sufficiently protected. The project consists of two stages. The first one is an analysis of individual sectors, with special attention being paid to five main indicators: consumer complaints, level of prices, consumer satisfaction with the goods and services on offer, switching providers, product safety. In the second stage appropriate corrective measures are going to be undertaken.

The research will be conducted in all the EU member states and will enable comparing the situation of consumers in individual countries and assessing the level of integration on the internal market. The data is to be collected in close cooperation with the national statistical offices and consumer organizations and will concern more than 20 sectors. The first results of the review already reveal some of the problems encountered by consumers. For example, the prices of digital cameras in neighbouring EU countries can differ by as much as 30%, the costs of telephone calls - by 20%, and the costs of electricity can be twice as high. In the Commission’s opinion, such situations may by the evidence of the existence of irregularities in the analyzed sectors.

The Consumer Markets Scoreboard project constitutes one of the priorities of the European Union’s consumer protection policy for the next few years. According to the Commission’s Communication, in 2008, it intends to focus on the sector of financial services and cross-border sale of consumer goods.

The meeting at UOKiK was attended i.a. by representatives of the following institutions: the Office of Electronic Communications, the Energy Regulatory Office, the Central Statistical Office, the Institute of Market Research, Consumption and Economic Trends, the Polish Consumer Federation and the Municipal Consumer Ombudsman in Warsaw.

Additional information:
Olga Jabłonowska, Head of the International Relations Unit, UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Tel.: (+48 22) 556-04-52
faks (+48 22) 826 11 86
E-mail ojablonowska@uokik.gov.pl