Press releases

The lead committees in the European Parliament want beefed-up protections for consumers in the AI Act, which would be the world’s first law addressing artificial intelligence. The text approved today in the civil liberties (LIBE) and internal market and consumer protection (IMCO) committees would clearly improve the Commission’s proposal. It addresses crucial issues that the Member States ignored in their position adopted in December last year.

EU energy-efficiency rules, known as Ecodesign, help shield consumers from sky-high energy prices when using their home appliances. A study published today by BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, reveals among others that during the energy crisis in 2022 consumers could save up to €2,450 on their energy bills, using the most efficient appliances. Considering these encouraging results, BEUC calls on the European Commission to allocate enough financial resources to expand the rules further.

A survey across eight European countries shows that consumers are more cautious about sharing their health data than legislation currently under discussion at EU level proposes. The findings underline that EU legislators urgently need to better reflect people’s preferences in the European Health Data Space Regulation which is already under discussion by the EU institutions. This is essential for people to feel confident about sharing their health data to improve healthcare provision and make their data available for research and public health purposes.

The European Commission proposals published today to reform the EU’s medicines and pharmaceutical legislation are a good step in the right direction by moving the EU into a more active role to address numerous market failures. However, set against a backdrop of fairly widespread medicine shortages and increasing pressure on state budgets to reimburse people’s medicines, these proposals will have to go further to resolve the problems.