Welcome to European Parliament, your Research Service podcast on enforcing consumer protection laws in the EU.

The EU has some of the strongest rules on consumer protection in the world, but sometimes it can be difficult to enforce them.

So what can you do as a European consumer if you're not getting value for money?

Stay with this and get to know your rights.

Buying in the EU is one of the best guarantees that you'll get exactly what you paid for, or else you'll be entitled to compensation.

EU laws protect you from unsafe and faulty products, unfair conditions and misleading, even

aggressive commercial practices.

However, there's a gap between theory and practice.

In 2017, a fitness check of EU consumer laws revealed that while EU consumers do benefit

from one of the highest levels of protection in the world, the patchwork of different

national laws and procedures created a sort of justice gap, meaning that consumers had different

rights depending on where they lived.

The scoreboard showed that one and five consumers experienced problems when buying goods

and services, and a large number of them were exposed to unfair commercial practices.

And while most of them did complain about it, a third decided not to, either because they thought

their mind they could claim was too insignificant, or it would take too much time, or because

they simply didn't know where and how to complain.

So what can European consumers do when they face such a situation?

Well, first of all, the legal guarantee forced by the EU upon sellers

ensures the consumers have a right to repair, replacement, discount or reimbursement for faulty products for two years from delivery.

So although consumers can enforce these rights in court, most disputes over faulty products for two years from delivery. So although consumers can enforce these rights in court,

most disputes over faulty products are actually solved by complaining directly to the seller

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