Mission and vision
Mission and vision
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Who are we?
Why we are unique
What is our mission?
What is our vision of a consumer-friendly EU?
Fundamental assets to achieve our Mission and Vision
Who are we?
BEUC is a European-level umbrella organisation of independent national organisations that represent consumer interests.
Why we are unique
BEUC’s strength and uniqueness come from the legitimacy that we derive from our diverse and large network of independent member organisations that cover EU countries and beyond. The trust and cooperation with and between our members give us the expertise, experience and commitment to promote consumer interests. This allows us to share intelligence about consumers’ needs and expectations, to analyse potential solutions, to work together on our advocacy and to undertake joint and co-ordinated enforcement actions.
What is our mission?
BEUC’s mission is, together with our members, to inform EU policies and so achieve a sustainable and fair economy and society for European consumers, as part of a globalised economy.
In crisis times, it is part of the mission of BEUC and its members to contribute to a stable, plural, democratic society in which all consumers have access to safe essential goods and services like food, healthcare, energy, mobility and housing in competitive conditions and at affordable prices.
What is our vision of a consumer-friendly EU?
BEUC works to achieve an EU that delivers strong consumer protection, now and in the future, in line with the EU treaties which require a high level of consumer protection, including related to health, safety and the environment, and taking new developments based on scientific facts into account. For BEUC and its members, this means:
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Empowering consumers to make sustainable choices by ensuring that the easiest, most affordable and attractive options across all product and service sectors are sustainable.
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Ensuring that consumers benefit from an open, competitive Single Market, both in the bricks-and-mortar and the digital economy, whilst fully maintaining their autonomy and privacy
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Protecting and empowering consumers “by default and by design” so that, in an increasingly complex and technological world, they can rely on essential safeguards that always apply.
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Ensuring that consumers benefit from efficient enforcement of their rights, that enforcement authorities can fulfil their mandates effectively, and that consumers have tools to obtain proper redress
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Protecting consumers well also in global markets, through the EU upholding consumer interests in co-operation and trade agreements with non-EU countries
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Seeking inclusive, transparent and accountable institutions and governance processes that benefit consumers and the broader public interest
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Promoting a vibrant consumer movement, where consumer organisations represent consumer interests with policy makers and regulators at EU and national level and enable consumers to get access to justice where necessary.
Fundamental assets to achieve our Mission and Vision
Our values and processes
Evidence-based approach
Our positions and requests for action to policymakers are based on sound evidence gathered by our members from their daily contacts with consumers and/or their thorough analysis of situations faced by consumers. We bring added value by focusing on the consumer experience and subjecting policy approaches to reality checks and behavioural responses.
Constructive and out-of-silo advocacy
Our positions, when identifying shortcomings or gaps in consumer protection, systematically provide constructive solutions to policymakers to overcome those gaps or to improve the current system. We aim to provide policymakers with strong, trustworthy analysis on the need to take action to uphold the consumer interest. This approach means that we base our contacts with policymakers on respect, legitimacy and professionalism. We are proud of our interdisciplinary approach, both for policy and enforcement work.
Inclusiveness
BEUC bases its advocacy positions on inclusiveness, with the aim of representing the full diversity of consumer interests and perspectives. We pay specific attention not only to the needs of the more vulnerable but also to identifying new types of vulnerability which change as market conditions evolve. More generally, our 2030 strategy reflects more than ever the diversity of consumer needs and expectations, depending e.g., on age and education. The strategy in particular aims at reaching out to the younger generations, to adequately represent their specific concerns and requests.
Plain language communication
We strive to communicate our policy positions in a way that is comprehensible outside the very limited sphere of the EU institutions, so that they can be understood and acted upon by national policy makers and stakeholders.
Long-term perspective
We take a long-term perspective on consumer interests, with a view to raising awareness of – and addressing - the hidden price tag for our society of less sustainable and less human-centric policies.
Strengthening the consumer movement
While BEUC is traditionally considered to be primarily involved in advocacy, the secretariat has invested over the last years in building the capacity of consumer professionals at national level to deliver their objectives. Our capacity building team designs, develops and supports training courses not only on policy topics, but also on strategic planning, project management and fundraising, with a view to enhancing the sustainability of consumer organisations across Europe.
Going the last mile: enforcement and redress
The very best consumer legislation is pointless unless it is properly implemented and enforced to benefit consumers on the ground. Therefore, in recent years enforcement of consumer rights, both at national, cross-border and EU level has become an important cornerstone of BEUC’s strategy to fulfil its mission. This workstream covers several aspects: support and coordination of our members’ efforts to enforce consumer rights, outreach to EU networks of enforcement authorities, in co-ordination with or complementing our members’ actions towards national regulators, as well as intervention as a complainant or third party in EU competition cases. The adoption of the Representative Actions Directive will be a game changer as regards the magnitude of the enforcement work that can be rolled out by the BEUC network under the 2030 strategy.
Our alliances
With other consumer advocates
BEUC looks for synergies and mutual reinforcement with other consumer networks, be it in European standardisation (ANEC), in international fora (Consumers International), in testing (ICRT), or exchanging intelligence to boost transatlantic cooperation in consumers’ interests (TACD).
With other stakeholders
In our advocacy work, we systematically reach out to other representatives of consumer or societal interests, at international and at EU level. In doing so, we remain focused on our specific mission of promoting the consumer interest. We regularly cooperate with business associations, companies, trade unions, environmental organisations and other public interest organisations. We systematically reach out and co-operate with academics to maintain and develop first-class expertise and promote relevant academic consumer research. We believe such contacts and cooperation are important to promote mutual respect for different positions.
Working with donors
The ever-growing diversity of the challenges facing consumers, and the multiplication of our actions, require increased funding. BEUC has therefore developed a successful fundraising strategy, working with foundations that support our mission by providing the resources to reinforce our capacity in some areas, build evidence and back up our positions with scientific research. This enables us to strongly enhance our outreach to policy makers.
Expert staff in our Brussels secretariat
BEUC is proud to count on 50+ experienced and committed staff to coordinate its network and represent it in its daily work with the EU institutions.
Our 2026-2030 Strategy
Our strategy is organised around three main strategic pillars:
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Advocacy to advance the identified priorities for consumers. BEUC is focusing on eight impact sectors where there is a need to further develop consumer-friendly conditions: Financial Services, Mobility, Energy, Health, Safe products, Food systems, Digital Products and Services and Sustainable Choices. These impact sectors are supported by a strong horizontal framework acting as a safety net (e.g. via horizontal consumer law and competition laws) in a challenging global environment.
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Enforcement and redress to ensure European laws are respected and deliver to consumers on the ground. BEUC is developing this workstream by directly engaging in enforcement as an active stakeholder in EU cases (e.g. under competition, consumer and digital laws including the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act) and by supporting and coordinating its members enforcement and redress efforts.
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Organisational development to ensure BEUC and its membership remain impactful to continue improving consumer conditions in Europe.