Consumer movement in Central and Eastern Europe. Breda Kutin

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1 Argomnti Consumr movmnt in Cntral and Eastrn Europ Brda Kutin Introduzion sintsi 102 Il progrssivo allargamnto dll Union uropa ai Pasi dl cntro-st Europa (cosiddtti Pasi C) fino agli attuali 27 Pasi mmbri ha posto con vidnza il problma dll disparità socio-conomich risptto ai Pasi dlla vcchia Europa portato all attnzion dll istituzioni comunitari l nuov sfid, contraddizioni difficoltà drivanti dal procsso di allargamnto. L articolo di Brda Kutin, prsidnt dll Associazion di consumatori dlla Slovnia (Zps), fa il punto sullo stato dl movimnto consumrista ni Pasi C, vidnziando l su prospttiv, così com l difficoltà i ritardi ch lo affliggono. Va ricordato, innanzitutto, ch in qusti Pasi l normativ di tutla di consumatori di loro diritti rano storicamnt insistnti. A sguito dll avvio di procdimnti di accsso all Union uropa, l adguamnto dll lggi nazionali all dirttiv comunitari è stato in larga part dttato dall signza di armonizzar il quadro lgislativo nazional, qual condizion indispnsabil pr divntar mmbri U. La lgislazion in matria di tutla dl consumator non è stata, quindi, il frutto di una gnuina politica di consumatori, bnsì un passaggio burocratico ncssario pr l accsso all Union uropa. Nonostant i significativi sforzi nl corso dgli anni rcnti, l organizzazioni di consumatori di Pasi C hanno compiuto progrssi strmamnt limitati. Ess soffrono tuttora di risors insufficinti di un ccssiva dipndnza dall priorità di loro Govrni. Nll conomi pianificat di qusti Pasi, l unich istituzioni di protzion di consumatori, com gli ispttorati dl commrcio, svolgvano principalmnt un ruolo di suprvision controllo di przzi. In tal contsto, rano assnti gli stssi prsupposti di una politica consumrista (possibilità di sclta, przzi diffrnziati, qualità disponibilità di bni srvizi). Il passaggio a conomi di mrcato è stato rpntino ha causato un invasion di prodotti di dubbia qualità, offrti a cittadini imprparati a divntar consumatori. Tuttora i consumatori di qusti Pasi non sono particolarmnt signti pr quanto attin la qualità di prodotti di srvizi ch acquistano. La loro prima razion dopo i cambiamnti politici d conomici è stata qulla di ssr Brda KutinBrkly Prsidnt Zps - Slovn Consumrs Association Dirctor Intrnational Consumr Rsarch Institut Introduzion sintsi a cura di Paolo Martinllo Prsidnt Altroconsumo, Associazion Indipndnt di Consumatori Buc (Burau Europén ds Unions d Consommaturs) Consumatori, Diritti Argomnti DirittiMrcato Mrcato

2 affascinati attratti dall aumnto sponnzial dlla quantità dll mrci offrt, piuttosto ch dal loro rapporto qualità-przzo, ch implica informazioni conoscnz (pr smpio attravrso la pubblicazion di tst comparativi) ch i consumatori non rano non sono abituati a richidr, né a ricrcar. In qusto contsto, l organizzazioni di consumatori sono stat considrat dai cittadini com punti di raccolta di loro rclami lamntl più ch com font di informazioni. Dall riptut indagini svolt ngli scorsi anni dal Buc (l organizzazion uropa di consumatori) tra l organizzazioni ni Pasi C, mrg ch ss oprano al limit dlla sopravvivnza, con prsonal molto limitato, prvalntmnt volontario. La maggior part dll risors provin dal finanziamnto di progtti o da sussidi govrnativi, mntr solo una minima part driva da contributi vrsati dai consumatori associati. L principali fonti di finanziamnto comunitario drivano da programmi di formazion di quadri, da campagn di informazion da progtti dirtti a finanziar l organizzazioni di consumatori il loro sviluppo (in particolar, attravrso la diffusion di rivist informativ). L istituzioni comunitari dovrbbro incoraggiar i Govrni nazionali ad assicurar un maggior supporto finanziario all organizzazioni di consumatori. Al contmpo, l utilizzo di finanziamnti govrnativi o pubblici richid la dfinizion di critri di accrditamnto dll organizzazioni di consumatori, ch dovrbbro contribuir a suprar la frammntazion la dbolzza ch spsso carattrizza il movimnto consumrista. Qullo uropo può ssr fort solo s basato su organizzazioni nazionali altrttanto forti profssionali, sia ni vcchi sia ni nuovi Stati mmbri. Gli squilibri nl mrcato intrno sono un problma non solo pr i nuovi Stati mmbri, ma pr l intra Union uropa. Sulla bas di qusta consapvolzza, alla fin dl 2010 il Buc ha tracciato una nuova stratgia pr lo sviluppo di un movimnto consumrista più fort ni Pasi C nll arco dl prossimo dcnnio. È indispnsabil ch qusta stratgia trovi il sostgno dll istituzioni comunitari, in quanto la crscita dl consumrismo ni Pasi C è ssnzial pr il succsso dl procsso di allargamnto, quindi, pr il futuro stsso dll Union uropa. Introduction If w want to valuat changs in consumr protction in nw mmbr stats it is ncssary to undrstand th nvironmnt, cultur and valus bfor political and conomical chang took plac in lat ightis. Consumr protction and consumr rights did not xist in laws. Thr was a problm of choic, pric, quality and availability. In such an nvironmnt it was difficult to talk about th consumr and consumr awarnss. Th consumr Consumatori, Diritti Argomnti DirittiMrcato Mrcato 103

3 protction structurs that hav bn put in plac in th accssion procss hav bn largly th rsult of th nd to harmoniz in ordr to mt th EU mmbrship critria and not a rspons to a nd for comprhnsiv consumr policy. Consumrs ar still not sufficintly dmanding with rgards to th quality of th products and srvics bing bought. Consumr cultur nds to dvlop. In spit of significant fforts during last coupl of yars, vry limitd progrss has bn achivd. Consumr NGOs ar still suffring from insufficint rsourcs and ar too dpndnt on govrnmnt prioritis and thir pac of activitis. Consumr protction can b strong only with strong and profssional consumr organizations in old and nw mmbr stats. Unbalanc on th intrnal markt is not just a problm of nw mmbr stat but EU as a whol thrfor joint ffort is ndd. History If w want to valuat changs in consumr protction in nw mmbr stats it is ncssary to undrstand th nvironmnt, cultur and valus bfor political and conomical chang took plac in lat ightis. Consumr protction and consumr rights did not xist in laws, consumr policy was non-xistnt at th national lvl, and th sam was th cas with th consumr movmnt. Consumr protction institutions lik Trading Inspctorats xistd but thir rol was primarily to suprvis controlld prics. Thr was a problm of choic, pric, quality and availability. In such an nvironmnt, it was difficult to talk about th consumr and consumr awarnss. Political and conomical chang, which happnd at th bginning of nintis, was hug. Closd national markts bcam opn and ovr-floodd with products, many of thm of qustionabl quality. Passiv and unducatd citizns with no knowldg of consumr rights wr suddnly xpctd to b activ citizns and informd consumrs. But wr citizns prpard to bcom consumrs? Can w xpct consumrs to chang thir habits and bhaviour just bcaus th conomical and political nvironmnt has changd? Enlargmnt 104 Dcision for EU nlargmnt was anothr big chang. EU accssion did not man just opn markts and libralization, bttr choic and comptition. Suddnly candidat countris wr xposd to a compltly nw cultur and valus and acquis communitair was th magic word for vrything. Th main driving forc Consumatori, DirittiMrcato Diritti Mrcato Argomnti

4 in most of th nlargmnt countris for taking on board consumr policy was th nd to adopt th EU consumr protction acquis. Similarly th consumr protction structurs that hav bn put in plac hav also bn largly th rsult of th nd to harmoniz in ordr to mt th EU mmbrship critria and not a rspons to a nd for comprhnsiv consumr policy. As a consqunc of th nlargmnt all nw mmbr stats adoptd a framwork of consumr protction lgislation, including consumr protction acts. Govrnmnts stablishd consumr protction dpartmnts or othr bodis rsponsibl for consumr protction without propr considration and with vry limitd undrstanding of consumr policy within th govrnmnt. Th transposition and implmntation trms ar barly rcognisd amongst consumrs and politicians. Unfortunatly, th conviction that it is sufficint just to transpos a dirctiv into national law is still strong. Th dirctivs giving a minimum of consumr protction ar oftn simply transposd, without any thought for th spcifics of a givn country or addition of ncssary clauss that would rally protct consumrs. Ths rgulations allow diminishing consumr rights with th xcus of th lack of tchnical capabilitis. Consumr cultur As th situation is, consumrs ar still not vry dmanding with rgards to th quality of th products and srvics bing bought. First raction of consumrs aftr political and conomical chang was fascination with choic and not paying nough attntion to quality in comparison of pric. Complaining about poor quality of products and srvics implis sufficint lvl of knowldg and information. Informd choic for th avrag consumr in old mmbr stat was not a concpt in NMS bcaus thr wr no consumr magazins publishing comparativ tsts of product and srvics and consumr wr not us to sk advic and information from indpndnt consumr organizations. Thr is currntly still much lowr lvl of consumr awarnss than in th old Mmbr Stats. Consumrs ar not willing to pay for th srvic of consumr organization and lack of rsourcs is an obstacl for furthr dvlopmnt of srvics, consumrs would nd for informd choic. Whn consumr organizations wr st up in CEE, thy wr mainly daling with consumr complaints and consumr rprsntation in diffrnt fora but du to svral rasons, consumrs did not prciv consumr organization as important sourc of information bfor making significant dcisions lik buying a durabl consumr products, mortgags, insuranc tc. Consumr activists in svral NMS ar of old gnration, many of thm rtird prsons not undrstanding nough th nd of consumrs in 21 st cntury. It looks lik a closd circl. Consumatori, DirittiMrcato Diritti Mrcato Argomnti 105

5 Spcific problms of consumr organizations from nw mmbrs stats 106 In 2005 and again in 2009, BEUC th Europan Consumrs Organisation snt a qustionnair to th mmbr organisations in th nw mmbr stats to idntify thir nds and problms. BEUC mmbrs ar national non-govrnmnt consumr organizations. Thy rprsnt consumr voic on national lvl and thir strngth should b an important indicator for masuring lvl of consumr protction on th stat lvl. In spit of th fact that som consumr organisations hav bn xisting for many yars (Polish consumr organization Frdracja Konsumntow xist for 30 yars, Slovnian ZPS for 20 yars, Hungarian OFE was stablishd in 1982 and r-stablishd in 1991, and svral othrs xist for mor than 15 yars) thy all still struggl for survival. Thy ar undrstaffd and hav a small numbr of prmannt, paid staff. Most of thos organizations hav lss than 5 full tim staff and btwn 2 and 25 part tim staff. Only fw organizations hav staff of 10 or mor and majority of th who mploy staff. hav th budgt around Euro or lss. Som organizations ngag voluntrs, in Hungary up to and in Poland approx. 200 and som, in Latvia for xampl, only work with voluntrs. Indpndnt consumr magazin with paying mmbrs xists for mor than 20 yars only in Slovnia and Czch Rpublic. Othr countris lik for xampl Bolgaria hav followd latr, whil in th prsnt, intrnt vrsions of magazins with vry small printd circulation ar apparing in Poland, Hungary, Romania. In comparison, big consumr organizations such as Which? in th UK or Altroconsumo in Italy tnd to hav circulation of thir magazin btwn up to and staffs of , and vn smallr ons, such as th Danish Consumr Council or VKI from Austria hav circulation around and staff of Most organisations from CEE rciv th main part of thir incom from projct funding or govrnmnt subsidy. A small prcntag of thir incom coms from mmbrship fs and srvics. Th problm with bing dpndnt on projct funding is that ths organisations ar not in a position to build up xprtis, as projcts corrspond to th policy prioritis drawn-up by national govrnmnts and othr donors, and can chang from projct to projct. Thrfor consumr NGOs ar not in a position to dvlop xprtis whr thy can put issus onto th national agnda, and can b sn by th public at larg as dfnding thir intrsts. This also mans that thy cannot mploy xprts and thrfor lack xprtis in aras of consumr concrn. This dirctly impacts th work of thir Europan umbrlla organisation (BEUC) in lobbying in Brussls, as not all of mmbr organisations ar abl to provid input for BEUC position paprs and in lobbying towards MEPs and Council officials from all mmbr stats. Consumatori, Diritti Argomnti DirittiMrcato Mrcato

6 Th situation worsnd significantly aftr DG Sanco dcidd to stop providing spcial budgt lin for consumr NGOs in With th financial crisis, national govrnmnts rducd rsourcs to support consumr protction programms and projcts. Sourcs of EU funding Training programms Th Consumr Policy Stratgy rndrs grat importanc to th closr involvmnt of consumr organisations in th dvlopmnt of EU policy. Within th Stratgy th Commission aims for «consumrs to hav th capacity to promot thir intrsts in ordr to b on th sam footing as othr civil socity stakholdrs rprsntd at EU lvl». To achiv this goal, Th Halth and Consumr Protction Dirctorat (DG Sanco) awardd BEUC th contract to manag th organisation of training courss for prsonnl of consumr organisations in consumr law, lobbying and managmnt skills in 2002, aiming to support and nhanc th rol of consumr organizations rprsntativs in dcision-making. Th fdback from participants was vry positiv ands in th contxt of th Consumr Policy Stratgy BEUC was grantd. In 2008 nw program training namd TRACE. Th courss ar intndd for all consumr organisations in th EU, EEA and th accssion countris. Th main problm that consumr organizations can bnfit from training only whn thy hav a basic structur in plac and funding for it scurd is still unrsolvd. If participants ar mainly voluntrs and do not stay with th organization for thir profssional work, th outcom of training rgardlss of it high standards and quality can b qustiond. Consumr Information Campaigns Europan commission rcognisd th nd of improving th pro-consumr cultur in th nw EU mmbr countris, and in particular to rais consumr rights awarnss. Consumr information campaigns which startd in Poland in 2005 and wr followd in in all NMS xcpt Romania, 1 aiming to improv consumr awarnss. In countris with known and stablishd consumr organizations, consumr groups had bn ngagd in th campaign as a primary sourc of indpndnt dtaild information on consumr rights. Th rsult of campaigns was positiv in all countris. 1 Information campaign was dlayd and should start in autumn Consumatori, DirittiMrcato Diritti Mrcato Argomnti 107

7 Crating consumr cultur is a procss, and rsults could not b achivd in on or two of yars. Unfortunatly national govrnmnts did not continu with awarnss programms as a follow up of th EU campaigns and som positiv momntum of EU campaigns has bn lost bcaus of it. Projct funding to th consumr organizations Th Europan Commission DG Sanco providd projct funding to th consumr organizations. At th tim organisations from th nw mmbr stats wr complaining that it was vry difficult to find th othr 25% to match conditions of th funding bcaus many organisations work mainly with voluntrs. In 2007 DG Sanco dcidd to stop funding national consumr organizations. On of th last projct undr th DG Sanco budgt lin for consumr organizations was Capacity Building in Consumr Tsting and Magazins in Nw Mmbr Stats, managd by ICRT Intrnational Consumr Rsarch and Tsting organization. 2 Thr yar projct hlpd significantly to dvlop xprtis in product tsting of consumr magazins VIP in Slovnia and TEST in Czch Rpublic and to som xtnt othr mmbrs wb magazins but was not a good solution for organizations lacking basic structur and human rsourcs. Evn for thos organizations who bnfitd from th projct it is vry difficult to continu with tsting activitis bcaus thy do not hav rsourcs for markting to incras numbr of mmbrs/subscribrs what is ssntial for furthr dvlopmnt and sustainability of magazins. National sourcs of funding Consumr organisations would b hlpd if th EU institutions would ncourag thir national govrnmnts to nsur mor financial support. For th momnt, th majority of ths organisations do not hav a consumr magazin which is an important indpndnt sourc of incom for wll stablishd consumr organizations. Du to conomis of scal, th majority of nw mmbrs stats ar too small to gt nough mony from slling consumr magazin. That is crtainly tru for all th Baltic countris, Cyprus, Malta, Slovnia and vn for biggr countris lik Czch Rpublic. whrdvloping a mmbrship modl is not an asy targt. Poland. th biggst out of NMS. is still far from dvloping th mmbrship modl, th oldst consumr organization Fdracja Konsumntov has only paying ICRT is an association of 45 consumr organisations worldwid. It aims to promot co-opration in consumr rsarch and tsting among its mmbrs and othr organisations concrnd with consumr mattrs. ICRT also aims to dvlop bttr tst mthods for consumr goods and srvics, and to ncourag th dvlopmnt of good consumr tsting facilitis. Each yar mor thn 50 joint tsts of 3500 products ar carrid out, of which ovr thirty hav participants in fiv or mor organisations. Th rsults of ths projcts ar publishd in th national consumr magazins of th participating organisations and som ar publishd on a world-wid basis. Consumatori, DirittiMrcato Diritti Mrcato Argomnti

8 mmbrs with mmbrship f of 5 Euro. Thy still claim that Polish consumrs ar not willing to pay a mmbrship f for consumr organization. Public funding for th activitis of a consumr organisations basd on th solution availabl in Poland.Hungary or Slovnia whr it is possibl for th public to indicat 1% or 0.5% of thir incom tax to b providd as a donation to consumr organizations did not justify xpctations as th collctd funds ar far from bing sufficint for systmatic consumr protction activitis. Critria for th dfinition of consumr organizations Whn w discuss possibl govrnmnt funding or availability of public funds, critria for which consumr organisations should b rcognisd to gt public funding is ndd. Establishd national organisations in th nw mmbr stats bliv that thir govrnmnt should adopt critria on th basis of siz, activity and mmbrship. A majority of th organisations bliv that th fact that no such critria xist lads to a fragmntation of consumr movmnt with small and wak consumr organisations, and dos not allow a strong consumr movmnt to grow. It is clar that such critria ar th rsponsibility of ach national mmbr stat. Nvrthlss. DG Sanco dcidd in 2010 to st up within th Consumr Consultativ Group a sub-group with a task to prpar indicators for masurmnt of consumr movmnt in mmbr stats. Th group was mad up of 19 rprsntativs of consumr organisations from across Europ, who wr all abl to contribut information about thir local xprinc. On th basis of fiv group mtings, plus fild trips to fiv diffrnt countris and dsk rsarch, th group rcommnds a total of 20 potntial indicators. Som indicators ar qualitativ, othrs purly quantitativ. Th rport fromth bginning of 2011 dvlopw prformanc indicators for th Europ-wid consumr movmnt. It is intndd that ths ar to b usd not in isolation, but by aggrgating th rsults to construct an objctiv ovrviw of ach national consumr movmnt and should not b usd to rank Mmbr Stats, nor individual consumr organisations, but as a productiv and constructiv way of filling out th biggr pictur and possibly suggsting dvlopmnt options whr ncssary. A follow up activity would b ndd to put indicators in us. Towards an influntial consumr movmnt in CEE Consumr movmnt can b strong only with strong and profssional consumr organizations in old and nw mmbr stats. Imbalanc in th intrnal markt is not just a problm for th nw mmbr stats but th EU as a whol. Som consumr organisations in th CEE hav larnd how to crat trust of gnral public but nd to larn how to dvlop srvics for which consumrs Consumatori, Diritti Argomnti DirittiMrcato Mrcato 109

9 would pay, vn if incom would not b sufficint for compltly indpndnt work, som nd to larn vn that. In autumn 2010, BEUC draftd a vision papr on th 2020 consumr movmnt in CEE - how to crat strong national consumr nvironmnt: whr consumr policy is an intgral part of th public policy making and is institutionalisd in national authoritis; whr at last on strong consumr organization xists which is grantd public lgitimacy to act on bhalf of th gnral consumr intrsts; whr consumrs fl confidnt about th protction of consumr rights and th promotion of thir intrsts; whr mdia grant du attntion to th advocacy work carrid out to ngag into a constructiv dialogu with thm. Starting with assssmnt of th currnt situation, th papr is a uniqu documnt not just analyzing th situation but with th sts of proposals how to strngthn consumr organizations in CEE. BEUC is awar that rsults could b achivd only with proactiv approach from public authoritis and from consumr movmnt. BEUC is proposing an xtnsiv list of activitis lik accss to BEUC mmbrship, support training of CEE consumr organizations, by facilitating accss to funding of CEE BEUC mmbrs, by stting up coaching programms btwn afflunt and lss afflunt BEUC mmbrs, by organizing gnral assmbly in CEE, 3 contact programm with Brussls basd CEE prss and mtings with CEE MEPs and Parliamnt s IMCO committ. It is also ssntial that DG Sanco rintroducs into Consumr Policy Programm a funding or co-funding schm for th dvlopmnt and strngthning of th consumr movmnt in CEE and continu to support TRACE training programm. 4 Th task is far from asy. Situation in consumr movmnt in CEE is not improving but is dvloping from bad to wors du to svral factors lik conomic crisis which harmd consumrs and is also an xcus to rduc or not to incras consumr protction and support for th activitis of national govrnmnts. Anothr risk factor is th fact that som consumr organizations ar facing managmnt criss as th consqunc of gnration chang lik Hungarian consumr organization OFE, but this can b sn also as an opportunity for youngr profssionalists to join organizations. A ky pr-rquisit ar normal working conditions and sufficint funding as all th organizations lack financial rsourcs. Dg Sanco snt signals of srious considration to support nw program for consumr movmnt in CEE and to join fforts that should produc rsults also on national lvl. Incrasing citizn confidnc is ssntial for furthr sound conomical dvlopmnt. Without consumr confidnc, this is just an illusion BEUC nxt Gnral assbly will b in Warshaw and part of BEUC 50 th Annivrsary will b ddicatd to CEE countris. 4 Vision papr on th 2020 consumr movmnt in Cntral and EastrnEurop, BEUC, novmbr Consumatori, DirittiMrcato Diritti Mrcato Argomnti