Public consultation – Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 and action plan on consumers in the Single Market

Diaarinumero KKV/905/03.05/2025

Public consultation – Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 and action plan on consumers in the Single Market

Response from the Finnish Consumer Ombudsman

The Finnish Consumer Ombudsman advocates for a comprehensive and proactive consumer policy that prioritizes consumer protection during the rapid digital and environmental changes. The evolution of EU consumer policy in 2025-2030 should:

• Reflect both consumer welfare and well-being considerations. A holistic approach in EU consumer policy would foster a balanced framework that provides a solid foundation for future developments.

• Give weight to both human-centric and risk-based approaches. A human-centric and human rights-oriented approach includes four key elements: respect for human autonomy, prevention of harm, fairness (both substantive and procedural dimensions) and explicability. Ensuring that consumer rights are embedded throughout the lifecycle of digital technologies requires a commitment to protection by design. A riskbased approach ensures that measures are proactive rather than merely reactive, aiming to prevent harm rather than just compensating for it.

• Maintain high level of consumer protection during the simultaneous digital and green transitions. A sustainable, fair and inclusive twin transition necessitates effective consumer policy governance. For consumers the digital and green transitions are not parallel paths but intertwined transformation of their way of life. The impacts of the twin transition are evident in both servitization and e-commerce.

• Ensure effective enforcement of existing EU consumer protection laws. Cooperation between different EU-level enforcement networks needs to be prioritized and a balanced approach created to empower new cooperation mechanisms without undermining national level enforcement.

1. General remarks

The high level of consumer protection is the prerequisite for defining and implementing the EU’s consumer policy. The Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 must adopt multidisciplinary approaches, especially as consumer policy increasingly intersects with other policy areas (like competition, digital, privacy, environmental, energy, health, finance, trade, and transport).

Recent changes to the EU consumer acquis aim to adapt to digital markets, and we anticipate the next Consumer Agenda to be as ambitious as the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, focusing on implementation and legal reform for future generations.

We support the European Commission’s commitment to a just transition towards a clean, digital, and socially responsible economy. Here justifications for consumer protection are strong: consumers as humans are in a weaker position compared to businesses, especially in the digital sphere. Consumer rights are vital for market functionality, fostering trust and participation, while social fairness is crucial for facilitating market access for consumer, especially for vulnerable groups. While all consumers may experience vulnerability from time to time, certain groups, like children and the elderly, may require targeted protection.

Legislative initiatives should adhere to better regulation principles, emphasizing a simple yet effective regulatory environment that is futureproof and respects subsidiarity and proportionality. Incorporating behavioral insights can enhance consumer policy, and collaboration among stakeholders — including policymakers, enforcers, civil society, businesses, and academia — can strengthen the impact of consumer protection and empowerment.

The existing EU regulations — including the Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), Market Surveillance Regulation (MSR), General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and various horizontal consumer protection laws such as the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD), Consumer Rights Directive (CRD), Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Directive (UCTD), Sales of Goods Directive (SGD), and the Digital Content Directive (DCD) — has been created to improve consumer protection. Since consumer protection legislation is only as effective as the enforcement of it, in 2025-2030 the cooperation between EU-level enforcement networks needs to be prioritized by the Commission. Future developments should aim for a balanced approach that empowers new cooperation mechanisms without undermining national enforcement priorities or the work of enforcement authorities on their national level.

2. Consumer welfare and consumer well-being

OECD ‘s “Declaration on Protecting and Empowering Consumers in the Digital and Green Transitions” (2024, OECD/LEGAL/0504)[1] recognizes the necessity of effective consumer policy and enforcement to address the challenges of the digital and green transitions. The OECD Declaration emphasizes that consumer well-being should be a priority for businesses and government policy.

Given the complexity of the EU’s consumer policy, we believe that maintaining a high level of consumer protection is best achieved through a holistic approach that integrates both consumer welfare and well-being approaches.

EU’s horizontal consumer law aims to create a coherent framework that applies uniformly across various sectors. It encompasses a range of regulations and directives that ensure harmonized level of consumer rights and protection. Horizontal consumer law is the general level of protection, not limited to specific sector or product and irrespective of the size of the business involved. This framework is primarily based on a consumer welfare approach, which focuses on the economic aspects of consumer protection, emphasizing transparency and choice.

Consumer well-being adopts a broader perspective, addressing various forms of consumer harm, including privacy erosion, psychological harm, and sustainability issues, rather than solely focusing on financial losses. Elements of consumer well-being are already present in many areas of consumer policy, with strict regulations on addictive commodities (like alcohol, tobacco, gambling). In digital environments consumer policy safeguards psychological safety and human rights through frameworks such as the Digital Services Act, General Data Protection Regulation, and Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

A holistic approach in EU consumer policy would foster a balanced framework that incorporates both consumer welfare and well-being, providing a solid foundation for future developments. In the Consumer Agenda 2025-2030, prioritizing consumer well-being in policy design could address pressing issues such as mental health, environmental sustainability, and social fairness.

3. Human-centric approach

A human-centric approach and the maintenance of consumer trust are essential goals in consumer policy. In 2025-2030 progress should be made towards a consumer-friendly digital environment. As artificial intelligence and algorithm-based processes rapidly evolve in areas like e-commerce, digital advertising, and customer (self-)service, there is a pressing need for clear and general ground rules. Consumers often face standard form contracts that they can only accept or reject, limiting their autonomy. Consumers are asking for less dependency-inducting design features and lock-in effects and more respect for human dignity and freedom of choice.

The requirements outlined in the ”Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence” (AI High Level Expert Group, published 8.4.2019)[2] can serve as general principles for any digitalization impacting humans. A human-centric and human rights-oriented approach should encompass four key elements:

1. Respect for human autonomy: The fundamental rights upon which the EU is founded ensure the freedom and autonomy of human beings. Digitalization must support human self-determination and consumer choices without unjustly subordinating, coercing, deceiving, or manipulating individuals. Instead, digital systems should be designed to five policy areas where a risk-based approach can be further developed include:

2. Prevention of harm: Digital systems must protect human dignity and mental and physical integrity. They should be safe, secure, and technically robust, with safeguards against malicious use. Special attention should be given to vulnerable groups such as children, persons with disabilities and older people, which are at risk of exclusion or exploitation. In legal solutions attention should be paid to contexts where power imbalances or information asymmetries may lead to adverse impacts. It should be acknowledged that digital systems may have negative impacts which may be difficult to anticipate, identify or measure (e.g. on the rule of law and distributive justice, or on the human mind).

3. Fairness: Fairness includes both substantive and procedural dimensions. Substantively, it involves a fair distribution of risks, benefits, and costs, protecting individuals from unfair bias, discrimination and stigmatization. Moreover, the use of digital systems should never lead to people being deceived or unjustifiably impaired in their freedom of choice. Since consumers are humans with mind and body, they cannot overcome biases and digital asymmetry created by the businesses. Procedurally, fairness entails the ability to contest decisions and seek effective redress. It is important to ensure that consumers can identify and contact accountable entities that adhere to a high duty of care in complaint handling. Consumers need to prove their case, but they cannot collect evidence since they are unable to break down the digital codes or enter the level of digital infrastructure. There fore also considerations for strict liability or a reverse burden of proof should be explored.

4. Explicability: Explicability is crucial for building and maintaining consumer trust in digitalization. Processes must be transparent, with the capabilities and purposes of digital systems openly communicated to the consumers. Decisions and consequences of choices should be explainable to those affected. Regulatory measures should include traceability and transparent communication by design.

These four elements underscore the need for a robust conceptual foundation in consumer policy, recognizing consumer vulnerability and the impact of digital transformation on the implementation of consumer rights. Ensuring that consumer rights are embedded throughout the lifecycle of digital technologies requires a commitment to protection by design.

4. Risk-based approach

A risk-based approach to consumer protection ensures that measures are proactive rather than merely reactive, aiming to prevent harm rather than just compensating for it. Focusing on consumer behavior insights helps to identify emerging risks and enables timely regulatory responses. In 2025-2030 five policy areas where a risk-based approach can be further developed include:

1. Consumer vulnerability in the digital economy: All consumers can experience vulnerability due to digital asymmetries and biases created by businesses. The rise of online platforms can exacerbate inequalities. Vulnerable groups, such as minors, the elderly and low-income individuals, struggle to navigate digital environments, leading to exploitation or exclusion. Consumer policy should prioritize accessibility, fairness, and support for these groups, enhancing their protection through a higher level of duty of care.

2. Digital privacy and data protection: As reliance on digital services and e-commerce grows, consumers face increased risks related to privacy and data protection. The potential for data breaches, misuse of personal information, and lack of transparency in data handling necessitates robust actions to ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

3. Sustainability and environmental impact: With growing environmental awareness among consumers, EU consumer policy must ensure transparency in sustainability claims and promote genuine eco-friendly practices to protect consumers against misleading information. While many consumers hold green values, their actions may not always align, highlighting the need for policy initiatives that foster cultural change beyond mere regulatory solutions.

4. Product safety and quality in global supply chains: The globalization of supply chains introduces risks related to product safety and quality. Consumers are exposed to unsafe or substandard products, particularly in sectors like electronics, food and cosmetics. Strengthening regulations and enforcement mechanisms for product safety standards is essential to protect consumers.

5. Financial consumer protection: The rise of fintech and digital financial services presents risks related to misleading financial products and a lack of transparency in fees and terms. Both consumers and financial institutions are victimized by scams and fraud, often perpetrated by organized crime networks. Enhanced consumer protection measures are essential to ensure informed financial decision-making and safeguard against predatory practices.

In 2025-2030 there are specific target areas for implementing a risk-based approach in consumer protection, particularly focusing on:

– Emerging technologies: This includes immersive environments, the use of neurotechnologies (a broad range of techniques and devices which interface with the nervous system to measure, monitor, or modulate neural activity), the use of individuals’ emotional data, and AI systems designed to create addictive service designs.

–Incorporation of digital and new technologies in consumer products: As products increasingly integrate digital technologies, consumer protection must adapt to address the associated risks.

–Circular business models: This area emphasizes the oversight of secondhand or refurbished products, ensuring that these items meet relevant safety and quality standards. In the context of consumer rights and horizontal consumer law, it is crucial to ensure that there are no dual standards for second-hand commerce.

Impact assessments often reveal that certain risks are unacceptable. In contrast, a risk management approach involves ongoing monitoring and surveillance, typically accompanied by reporting and verification obligations. The guiding principle in consumer policy regarding risk management has been to identify who is best positioned to mitigate or eliminate the risk. This kind of assessment has been done for example in the General Product Safety Regulation.

However, implementing risk management can lead to administrative burdens and complex requirements for businesses. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully evaluate when a risk-based approach should transition into risk management regulation.

While any legislative reforms might introduce regulatory burdens, especially when liability questions are involved, these costs are a necessary aspect of managing new risks in consumer markets. Society demands a fair distribution of risks and liabilities, ensuring that businesses introducing those risks are held accountable. By establishing clear liability frameworks and regulatory standards, society can protect consumers from harm while encouraging businesses to innovate responsibly.

5. Interlinkages between the digital and green transitions

For consumers the digital and green transitions are not parallel paths but intertwined transformation of their way of life. A sustainable, fair and inclusive twin transition necessitates effective consumer policy governance. The economic, psychological and social impacts of transition disadvantages affect consumers’ confidence in the twin transition. A significant gap exists in systematic evidence regarding these disadvantages, as focus has primarily been on the positive aspects of each transition separately.

FCCA’s study report 2024 [3] identified several factors, for example:

– The disadvantages of twin transition which reflect consumer exclusion have in common the limited freedom of choice in the digital green market.

– Disadvantages related to the provision of information to consumers concern the extent and type of information provided to consumers on digitally green products and services and how consumers’ decision making is influenced when the information is provided.

– Disadvantages regarding the use of consumer data are about how to use personal data also for the benefit of the consumer and how to ensure responsibility.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of consumer policy in the twin transition will be tested by its ability to maintain high level of consumer protection when transactions are executed by machines and AI agents instead of humans. This raises concerns about the fundamental rights of autonomy and self-determination for consumers.

5.1 Servitization

Discussions surrounding the digital and green transitions often portray an idealized vision of automated living, but real-life examples reveal the complexities and challenges faced by consumers. The twin transition merges tangible goods with intangible services, leading to new combinations in usage and transactions. This has already impacted consumers and created disadvantages:

1. Acquisition of environmentally friendly technologies: The initial cost of acquiring environmentally friendly technologies is an investment for the consumers. Total costs of sustainable choices, such as solar panels and electric cars, may be higher than choosing traditional alternatives.

2. Need for new technical skills: Transitioning to digital environmentally friendly solutions may require consumers to acquire new technical skills, which can be challenging for them. Consumers need more support from the producers and traders.

3. Component shortages: The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have led to shortages and supply chain disruptions, particularly due to semiconductor shortages, affecting consumer purchases and redress.

4. Compatibility issues: New digital and green technologies, for example smart home technologies and systems, require compatibility, which can create problems for consumers and wider infrastructures. For example the installation of solar power systems may be delayed if grid companies refuse to reinforce the electrical grid at their own expense.

5. Issues with used products: In the used goods market, consumers face uncertainty regarding product functionality, lack of warranties, and availability issues. Some second-hand goods are long-lasting and need updates during the use, for example vehicles.

6. Personalized pricing: New technologies collect continuous data.

Consumers may encounter challenges with personalized pricing, where they are charged different prices based on customer data and what companies assume they are willing to pay.

In complex environments, where multiple users may have conflicting preferences, achieving certain values like efficiency and sustainability can sometimes conflict with others, such as security and well-being. In twin transition there might not always be a one-size-fits-all solution. In consumer policy, this suggests a shift from simply providing technical solutions to facilitating long-term processes that adapt to users’ evolving needs.

At the same time consumer protection is needed to prevent the twin transition from resulting in situations where consumers are required to pay extra for every function in their living environment. Servitization should not lead to scenarios where consumers pay first for a product and then face continuous charges for its basic use and performance.

5.2 E-Commerce

The Commission’s Communication [4] 5.2.2025 “A comprehensive EU toolbox for safe and sustainable e-commerce” outlines various possible actions for the next steps of effective implementation of consumer protection in crossborder and third country e-commerce. Incorporating the impacts of the twin transition could lead to a more comprehensive policy design addressing current challenges:

1. Effective enforcement: In e-commerce the use of manipulative marketing and sales practices that pressure consumers, and especially vulnerable groups, into impulsive purchases and overconsumption is a serious concern. Some of the problematic practices and cross-border business models thrive due to large online platforms or B2B service providers like template-providers and the use of artificial intelligence and other algorithms. There are four problematic areas in e-commerce practices already causing non-compliance with several existing EU regulations:

– dark patterns

– influencer marketing

– dropshipping

– scams and fraud

In these problematic areas consumer harms (financial loss, privacy harms, psychological detriment) are likely to be cumulative. However, there is currently a lack of strategy, cooperation, and information sharing among EU-level enforcement networks to effectively address these issues.

2. Digital ‘transparency by design’: Instead of extensive and detailed information requirements, which could lead to information overload, consumers could benefit from new technical means and improved methods of information delivery. For consumers it is crucial that the information is given in a clear and understandable manner, in a relevant context and on the right time.

A mandatory Digital Product Passport with early compliance verification could address some issues in e-commerce. Consumer policy could facilitate the swift implementation of product passports while ensuring that requirements do not unduly burden compliant businesses or negatively impact the second-hand market.

For instance, in the used car market some Member States have developed more consistent solutions for sharing product information. The Data Act allows users of connected products to access and share data generated by some devices, but it does not cover all consumer products or ‘goods with digital elements’.

3. Environmental impact: The rapid expansion of e-commerce significantly affects the environment, particularly through business models that prioritize fast sales, low costs, speedy delivery, and over-consumption at the expense of sustainability. For example in ultra-fast fashion such practices can be seen as a form of social and environmental dumping. Current consumer policy tends to be reactive, mainly intervening after transactions have occurred. A shift towards preventive measures is necessary, and other instruments may prove more effective than consumer law:

– A waste management fee on products sold via non-EU online marketplaces has been proposed to prevent EU taxpayers from bearing environmental costs.

– While consumers already have a withdrawal right in e-commerce, it needs to be effectively integrated into traders’ return policies. Online sellers should provide a reshipping address and contact point within the EU to facilitate the return of non-compliant goods and allow for inspections.

– Encouraging second-hand consumption for affordable goods and supporting the circular economy could create a more sustainable alternative for consumers across the EU.

4. International law and trade agreements: The current business models of non-EU online platforms highlight that compliance with the EU’s consumer protection standards requires additional incentives. Future EU trade agreements should include provisions for regulatory compliance and uphold the high consumer protection levels.

Additionally, there is a need to update international law regarding competent jurisdiction and applicable law in consumer matters. For instance, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and the Regulation on Alternative Dispute Resolution (RAD) cannot harmonize or adapt EU private international law or governing international Treaties.

This response is complemented by our written opinion given – to this public consultation on the Commission’s Consumer Agenda public consultation form,

– to the Commissioner McGrath’s Implementation Dialogue 15.7.2025,

– to the Fitness Check of EU consumer law on digital fairness public consultation 17.2.2023 and targeted consultation 25.9.2023. We will participate also the ongoing Digital Fairness Act public consultation (ending 24.10.2025).

– to the Commission with other Nordic consumer protection authorities 13.6.2025.[5]

[1] https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0504

[2]  https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/ethics-guidelines-trustworthy-ai

[3]  https://www.kkv.fi/uploads/sites/2/2024-02-katsaus-digivihrean-kaksoissiirtyman-kuluttajiin-kohdistuvat-siirtymahaitat.pdf

 

[4] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/e-commerce-communication-comprehensive-eu-toolbox-safe-and-sustainable-e-commerce

 

[5]https://www.kkv.fi/ajankohtaista/lausunnot/the-nordic-consumer-protection-authorities-are-calling-on-the-commission-to-deliver-a-strong-consumer-agenda-2025-2030-and-digital-fairness-act/