11.1: Health and consumer protection

(I) Public health

The Treaty of Rome, the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Amsterdam all expressed an interest in public health. The framework for the public health field was set out in 1994. The highest priority was to be given to cancer research, drug dependence, AIDS and other communicable diseases, the collection of comparable data on health issues and measures in respect of health promotion, education and training.

An action programme covering the period 2003-08 was adopted in 2002. It had three general objectives:

Health information.
Rapid reaction to health threats.
Health promotion through addressing "health determinants".

The Programme for Community Action in the field of health for 2007-13 was proposed in 2006 by the Commission with the following objectives:

Improving citizens' health security.
Promoting health for prosperity & solidarity.
Generating & disseminating health knowledge.

(II) Consumer policy

The original Treaty of Rome made no provision for consumer policy, but the Single European Act referred to the need for "high level of protection" for consumers in the Single Market. The Maastricht Treaty provided the legal basis for the protection of "the health, safety and economic interests of consumers" and the provision of "adequate information to consumers".

Some key events in consumer protection policy are:

An outline programme for consumer policy was adopted in 1972 and the Consumers' Consultative Committee was set up in 1973. The first Consumer Action Programme was adopted in 1975.
Ministers responsible for consumer affairs met for the first time in 1983. Their work covered:

The health and safety of consumers:

Foodstuffs.
Dangerous substances.
Pharmaceuticals.
Other products, for example, cosmetics and textiles.

Protecting consumers' economic interests.
Consumer information and education.

In 1990 the Consumers' Consultative Committee became the Consumers' Consultative Council (CCC) and, at about the same time, the Consumer Policy service was set up in the European Commission. The CCC was reconstituted as the Consumer Committee in 1995.
The BSE crisis prompted the European Council to discuss food safety in December 1997. A White Paper on food safety was published in 2000. And agreement was reached in 2002 for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The consumer policy strategy for 2002-2006 set out the principal aims were to:

Guarantee essential health and safety standards, so that buyers are sure that the products they purchase are safe & that they are protected against unfair and abusive practices by sellers.
Enable individuals to understand policies that affect them and have input when these policies are made.
Establish a coherent & common environment across the EU so shoppers are confident about making cross-border purchases.
Ensure that consumer concerns are integrated into the whole range of relevant policy areas from environment and transport to financial services and agriculture.

The Consumer Programme for 2007-13 was adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in 2006. Its main objectives were:

Ensuring a high level of consumer protection.
Ensuring the effective application of consumer protection rules.

RL, February 2007