The Paris Accord Round II

2009-09-18T18:20:00.002+01:00

The Paris Accord is a TACD initiative to negotiate an agreement between creative communities and the public. Such an agreement includes recognition of (and suggestions for improving) (1) access to and (2) income for the knowledge goods produced by creative communities. The Paris Accord was launched at a TACD conference in Paris in 2006.

On the 23-24 October, the TACD IP Policy Committee will host the Paris Accord Round II at the Institut National d'Histoire de L'art in Paris. This conference will aim to make further progress on the 2006 draft of the accord.

Consult the outline agenda and participant list and register for the conference.

TACD talks to the Financial Times on the need for stronger consumer protection

2009-06-11T09:11:00.003+01:00

Jim Guest, President of Consumers Union and Benedicte Federspiel, Chief Counsel at the Danish Consumer Council talk to the Financial Times at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (9th June in Brussels).

They both stressed the need for the EU and US to introduce stronger consumer protection measures in the wake of the financial crisis.

Read the full article.

A call for stronger consumer protection measures in the wake of the financial crisis – including a single agency to vet financial products before they are marketed – has been launched jointly by consumer groups in Europe and the US.

At a transatlantic consumer dialogue (TACD) meeting in Brussels, about 80 consumer-based organisations demanded tougher rules to guard against unfair or deceptive practices and better opportunities for redress.

Jim Guest, president of the US Consumers Union, told the Financial Times: “What’s needed is real regulatory reform and a recognition that what happens in the US affects what happens in Europe and vice versa”.

He claimed that the push for more disclosure following the financial crisis was not sufficient – and could not substitute for substantive regulation. Drawing parallels with other consumer products, he suggested that asking consumers to weed through additional fine print was like asking parents to decide which toys were safe.

“Toys ought to be safe in the first place,” he said, suggesting that regulators to date had been focused mainly on new banking regulations and the like, rather than measures to help users of financial services.

Amongst those talking to the consumer groups were European Commission officials, including from the internal market and consumer departments. One of the concrete measures the TACD is pushing for is more “meaningful consumer representation and consultation” with the three EU co-ordinating bodies for regulators in the banking, insurance and securities sectors.

These are the three organisations – CEBS, CESR and CEIOPS – which, under the current financial supervision overhaul plans, would become new European supervisory authorities in these areas.

Benedicte Federspiel, from the Danish consumer council Forbruger Radet, also suggested that EU regulators might need to re-address the issues of deposit guarantees, to better cover consumers against bank failures, and excessive consumer loan rates.

A new EU-wide minimum protection level for bank deposits was agreed last autumn, with a further rise proposed after 12 months. But the negotiations threw up divisions between member states – with some offering more generous protection and others, notably in central and eastern Europe, reluctant to go even as far as the commission wished.

EESC Issues Opinion on Improving Civil Society Participation in Transatlantic Relations

2009-05-21T10:17:00.002+01:00

The European Economic and Social Committee has issued an opinion entitled "Transatlantic Relations: "How to improve the participation of civil society".

The opinion calls for more EU-US cooperation on social and sustainability matters in addition to current efforts on foreign, trade and economic policy.

It calls for greater attention to responses to the financial and economic crisis and accelerated cooperation to address climate change.

An overarching theme is the need for better involvement and consultation with stakeholders, notably in the Transatlantic Economic Council, which it argues needs to improve its consultation processes and transparency.

Strengthening Civil Society in Transatlantic Economic Dialogue

2009-03-31T15:56:00.003+01:00

The March edition of "USEU snapshots", a monthly newsletter from the US Mission in Brussels, has outlined the intention of the US Government to improve the input of civil society groups in Transatlantic Economic Dialogue.

TACD welcomes this outreach and looks forward to working with the new US administration as well as the European Commission to ensure that consumer priorities are better reflected on the agenda of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC).

TACD has been a member of the TEC advisory group since it was created at the 2007 EU-US Summit, but has been critical of the lack of transparency of the process to date and in particular the lack of information provided to stakeholders.

Read more about TACD's work on the TEC.

Welcome

2009-02-25T15:31:00.009Z

Hello and welcome to the new TACD blog.

We'll be posting regular stories and comment from TACD members on transatlantic consumer issues so please sign-up to get all the latest news.

Its also a place to share information on new developments of concern to EU and US consumers so please email us with any interesting stories.