Consumer rights must be brought into the digital age to...

to increase participation and trust in the market. Its main objectives are to: (1) Adapt consumer law to the digital environment and tackle problems consumers face online. (2) Reinforce consumer safety for goods, services and food. (3) Give consumers the right tools and information to deal with things such as filing complaints and figuring out the true cost of consumer credit. (4) Put in place better enforcement and redress mechanisms. The EC has already enacted a consumer rights directive and proposed updated data protection rules to boost consumer confidence online, Reding said. Now it plans to modernize Europe’s package travel rules to take into account the growing use consumers make of the Web for arranging their vacations, she said. But Reding warned “it takes more than new laws to make the digital single market work for consumers,” and she urged EU members to put rules in place swiftly and non-bureaucratically so consumer rights become a concrete reality. The European Consumers Organization (BEUC) said in a statement that gathering previously scattered initiatives under one umbrella “gives a strong signal of higher standing for consumer needs and expectations in EU policy making.” But “the proof will be in the pudding,” said BEUC Director General Monique Goyens. In times of “fierce budget cuts,” it will be a relief across Europe to work with governments to support national consumer organizations, she said.