The new Consumer Agenda 2025 – 2030 is coming. What can businesses and consumers expect?

With the period covered by the Consumer Agenda 2020 – 2025 slowly coming to an end, the European Union has already started to prepare the new Consumer Agenda 2025 – 2030. Here you can learn about the key aspects of consumer protection that are likely be relevant going forward.

The EU is continuously working to enhance consumer protection and consumer rights. While we regularly cover consumer rights and changes in this area, this time we are introducing the new Consumer Agenda 2025 – 2030, which the EU has already begun preparing.

The previous Consumer Agenda 2020 – 2025 focused on five key priority areas: i) green transition, ii) digital transformation, iii) effective enforcement of consumer rights, iv) specific needs of certain consumer groups and v) international cooperation. As part of this agenda, the EU has adopted a number of directives and regulations, some of which we have covered in our articles, such as the Digital Services Act and the Directive on the Promotion of the Repair of Goods.

As part of this agenda, a directive was also adopted on empowering consumers for the green transition through better protection against unfair practices and better information. It introduces, inter alia, the following:

1. a broad definition of “environmental claim” (a claim that something has a positive or zero impact on the environment, etc.);
2. the proliferation of unfair practices, e.g. making generic environmental claims without acknowledged environmental performance (“environmentally friendly“, “green“, etc.);
3. prohibition of misleading as to the scope of an environmental claim (e.g. if the whole product is not made of recycled material, but only the packaging, it should be specified that only the packaging is made of recycled material);
4. the extension of potentially misleading commercial practices (e.g. a claim about a product’s sustainability or a future performance that is not supported by scientific evidence);
5. standardisation of information on sustainability, including in particular on the reparability of the product, and standardised labelling and notice of a commercial guarantee of sustainability.

With the period covered by current Consumer Agenda slowly coming to an end, the European Union has already started to prepare a new Consumer Agenda 2025 – 2030. Its official draft has not yet been made public, but ongoing discussions provide a general sense of its content. A key debate took place in April 2024 at the Consumer Summit 2024. Participants highlighted in particular the impact of artificial intelligence, shifting consumer habits, the influence of e-commerce, influencers, and the creation of a level playing field and product sustainability.

Given the breakdown of the key themes by group, we can expect the new Consumer Agenda to include the following highlights:

1. Improving digital transparency: awareness of the collection, use and protection of personal data;
2. Sustainability: further restriction of misleading green marketing;
3. AI governance: establishing ethical frameworks for AI in consumer protection;
4. E-commerce regulation: focus on ensuring a level playing field for all stakeholders and protecting consumer interests.

Slovenia has not yet implemented all consumer protection directives. However, to provide a clearer overview, on 23 May 2024, Slovenia adopted the Resolution on the National Consumer Programme 2024-2029 (“the Resolution”). In this document, Slovenia assesses the state of play in this area by reviewing progress to date, analysing the domestic market and comparing it with the European market, and reviewing legislation. This was followed by the identification of key issues and the setting of objectives and priorities to address or mitigate the issues identified.

The Resolution outlines the following priority actions:

1. mainstreaming consumer protection (which means strengthening cooperation between different authorities, as consumer law is quite fragmented and covers several areas, from contractual relations, financial services, electronic communications to health, and food safety and quality);
2. increasing research and analysis in the field of consumer protection (including in particular compliance with legal provisions);
3. sustainable consumption and sustainable finance (actions mainly focus on the implementation of adopted EU directives in this area);
4. ensuring access to public infrastructure services, electronic communications and postal services at reasonable prices;
5. promoting digital empowerment measures for consumers through education and training;
6. financial education of consumers, promoting and raising awareness of the importance of financial literacy and setting up a public debt counselling service;
7. amendments to the Consumer Protection Act in the light of adopted EU directives.

In view of the above, it is expected that the European Union (and Slovenia along with it) will continue to pursue its current policies, particularly in the areas of consumer protection and the green transition. Therefore, deregulation or making it easier for companies to do business at the expense of consumers is not expected in the future.

Author: Tina Marciuš Ravnikar, Attorney at Law