SUMMARY:

On 19th November, the European Commission has adopted the 2030 Consumer Agenda and the Action Plan for Consumers in the Single Market, a strategic plan aimed "at enhancing consumer protection, trust, and legal clarity across the EU" (see attached).

The 2030 Consumer Agenda (Communication) announces a series of new initiatives, focusing on four key priority areas relevant to FESI, including: an Action Plan for Consumers in the Single market (adopted with yesterday’s Communication), the Digital Fairness Act (Q4 2026), harmonised notice on the legal guarantee of conformity and a harmonised label for the commercial guarantee of durability (Q3 2026), effective enforcement of the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) and revision of the rules on market surveillance (Q3 2026).

Together with the Agenda, the Commission also published guidelines on the GPSR (see attached) and on the Safety Business Gateway to better support businesses to ensure the safety of their products.

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MORE INFORMATION:

The Agenda builds on the achievements of the New Consumer Agenda adopted in 2020 and the results of EU-wide open public consultation in the period May-August 2025, to which FESI contributed.

It announced several policing initiatives in four key priority areas:

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1. Completing the Single Market for consumers: the Communication includes "An Action Plan for Consumers in the Single market" including:

• The evaluation of the Geo-Blocking Regulation (Q2 2026)‍
• Tools to act against unjustified Territorial Supply Constraints to cover situations beyond those captured by competition law, such as unilateral practices of large manufacturers (Q4 2026).
• Foster the provision of cross-border financial services, by monitoring retail investments in capital markets and the availability and uptake of savings and investment accounts (2026-2027).
• The EU Digital Identity Wallets (Q4 2026).
• Conclude roaming agreements with EU candidate countries (for example, Ukraine and Moldova as of January 2026 and Western Balkans).
• Strengthen the monitoring and analysis of consumer conditions and trends (by the end of 2026)

2. Digital fairness and consumer protection online:

• Propose a Digital Fairness Act (Q4 2026)‍
• Reinforce the protection of consumers against online fraud (2026)‍
• Foster fair and transparent use of AI in consumer markets, in particular through the application of the AI Act and the relevant consumer protection and product safety legislation (ongoing).

3. Sustainable consumption:

• Promoting the harmonised notice on the legal guarantee of conformity and a harmonised label for the commercial guarantee of durability (Q3 2026); and launching a European online platform for repair (by 2028).‍
• Exchanging good practices with stakeholders to promote consumer return of goods that are no longer used, secondhand markets, product-as-a-service business models and innovative circular start-ups (2027).
• Explore the need for a Recommendation on fostering ‘green by design’ features in e-commerce and encourage the development of digital tools and their use (2027).

4. Effective enforcement and redress:

• Propose a revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation (Q4 2026).‍
• Support coordinated enforcement actions and activities of the CPC Network to tackle widespread breaches of EU consumer law (ongoing).
• Take effective action to increase product compliance and potentially establishing an EU Market Surveillance Authority (on-going).‍
• Update the rules on market surveillance and compliance of products, as part of the European Product Act (legislative proposal - Q3 2026), especially with respect to imports from non-EU countries, including via e-commerce.
• Strengthen implementation of the Representative Actions Directive by further supporting consumer organisations, members of the judiciary and national authorities (ongoing).
• Maximise the use of AI in enforcement and market surveillance activities (by 2027).‍
• Support awareness raising and training activities for non-EU country manufacturers and other actors in the supply chain (ongoing).

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NEXT STEPS:

The implementation of the Agenda will be regularly discussed at the Annual Consumer Summit. The Commission will also convene regular Ministerial Forums on consumer protection to provide high-level political guidance to the implementation of the Agenda.