Consumer policy
Confident and empowered consumers are crucial for competitive markets that reward innovative businesses that best meet customer needs. Up-to-date legislation, effective enforcement, monitoring markets, and independent consumer organisations are cornerstones of a framework to safeguard a high level of consumer protection and consumer confidence. Civic Consulting is at home in both theory and practice of consumer protection and empowerment. We support the European Commission, the European Parliament, and other national and international bodies in the evaluation and design of consumer policy, programmes, and legislative measures, and conduct related economic, market, and consumer research.
Recent examples of our work include large-scale studies on the use of alternative dispute resolution in the EU and an evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of collective redress mechanisms in the EU. We have conducted impact assessments concerning the economic impact of the EU Distance Marketing Directive (Directive 2002/65/EC) on the conclusion of cross-border contracts for consumer financial services, including insurance, as well as an analysis of the impact of a proposed directive on consumer credit. We also provided expertise on the legislative framework and enforcement practices concerning package travel, hotel reservation services, safety of toys, and the EU Sales Directive.
Civic Consulting has specific expertise in analysing sectors where risk of consumer detriment is highest, such as the area of financial services, in evaluating enforcement practices that involve both legislative and non-legislative measures, and in designing and evaluating programmes to support consumer information and empowerment.
Civic Consulting expertise includes the following areas:
- Consumer policy
- Safety of products and services
- Consumer law
- Market surveillance
- Consumer information
- Consumer research
- Analysis of consumer markets
- Market dynamic and choice
- Unfair commercial practices
- Behavioural biases of consumers
- Sustainable consumption
- Discriminatory practices in provision of goods and services
 Selected projects
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