Flash Eurobarometer 278 (Business Attitudes Towards Enforcement and Redress in the Internal Market)

Business attitudes towards consumer legislation. Product safety. Consumer authorities.<br>Topics: self-rated knowledge about legal obligations towards consumers arising from consumer legislation in the own country; assessment of the knowledge of consumers about their rights arising from consumer legislation in the own country; self-rated knowledge about the legislation on product safety; knowledge where to find information on consumer legislation in the own country and in other EU countries; need for information in the last two years; knowledge test on consumer legislation: length of cooling-off period in distant sales in the own country, consumer’s right to have a defective product replaced or repaired, prohibition of selected commercial practices in the own country; knowledge test on product safety: retailers must cooperate with authorities to prevent risks posed by products, retailers must immediately notify authorities about unsafe products, retailers must immediately recall unsafe products, retailers should disclose information about unsafe products to authorities; perception of fraudulent, misleading or deceptive advertisements, statements or offers made by competitors in the last twelve months; awareness of competitors knowingly selling unsafe products in the last twelve months; awareness of competitors pressurizing consumers to sign up contracts in the last twelve months; awareness of competitors using unfair consumer contract terms in the last twelve months; approval of the following statements: own company complies with consumer legislation, competitors comply with consumer legislation; control of the own company or of a competitor by consumer authorities in the last two years; events related to product safety in the last two years: reception of consumer complaints, safety check of selected products by authorities, withdrawal or recall of product on behalf of the authorities, issue of product warning on behalf of the authorities, safety tests within the company, other; attitude towards the following statements on market surveillance activities of selected institutions in the own country in the company’s sector: public authorities actively monitor and ensure compliance, consumer NGOs actively monitor compliance with consumer legislation, self-regulatory bodies actively monitor respect of codes of conduct or codes of practice, media regularly report on businesses which do not respect consumer legislation, change of own commercial practices due to media story; main issues of consumer complaints in the last twelve months; percentage of directly resolved complaints in the last twelve months; use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) bodies for settling disputes with consumers in the past two years; reasons for not using ADR; outcome of last ADR case; dispute settling with consumers at court in the last two years; preference to settle disputes with a group of consumers regarding the same problem through individual or collective ADR or court proceedings; assessment of the share of non-food products currently on the market in the own country which comply with safety standards; membership of the company in a code of conduct or a code of practice related to consumer or commercial issues for the own sector.

Demography: direct selling to final consumers; information about the company: number of employees, total turnover in 2008; legal service in the company; sales channels; largest sales product category; number of EU countries with subsidiaries or retail outlets; number of EU countries cross-border sales to final consumers are made to; interest in cross-border sales to final consumers in other EU countries on the basis of common EU legislation (number of countries).

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; weighting factor.