EU is not only obsessed with Facebook but also blaims now innocent websites using social plugins to serve democratic dialogues?

The Court of Justice of the European Union decided last Monday that websites which are using Facebook’s “Like” button should inform their visitors that Facebook will have access to their personal data. Otherwise, they will be held responsible for data breaching jointly with the US tech giant since the data are transmitted to the latter […]

EU Copyright Directive: Will US tech giants comply or ditch the EU market?

The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved yesterday the new Copyright Directive by 348 votes in favour, 274 against and 36 abstentions. Should the member states accept this vote, the reforms will be effective immediately and EU countries will have two years to implement them. The copyright changes will affect mainly big online platforms […]

Deal agreed to protect consumers against misleading and unfair practices

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. Updates to EU consumer protection rules to tackle misleading rankings in online marketplaces and dual quality of products were provisionally agreed on Friday. Daniel Dalton (ECR, UK), who steered this legislation through Parliament, said: “Today’s agreement updates consumer rights for the internet age, ensuring […]

A Sting Exclusive: “Cybersecurity: Why consumer products must be looked at urgently”, by BEUC’s Deputy Director General

This article was exclusively written and published for The European Sting by Ms. Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director General of BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation. The opinions expressed in this article belong to our distinguished writer.   According to estimates there will be 75 billion connected devices globally in 2025. More and more traditional consumer products that can connect […]

VW diesel scandal and climate change: can increased independent car checks lead to cleaner mobility?

It was last Thursday when the European Parliament together with the Council and the Commission agreed to enhance the car testing system by providing extra checks to the cars that are or will be placed in the market based on the proposal of the European Commission made on January 2016. Despite the fact that this […]

EU Council agrees to reform the system for motor vehicles but with “restricted” power for the Commission

It was last Monday when the EU ministers gathered in Brussels to draft new rules to prevent future emissions cheating from the automotive companies after the VW emissions scandal. The Council of Ministers from 28 countries proposed rules for cutting down the national authorities’ power giving at the same time the ability to the European […]

A Sting Exclusive: “One year on from the VW scandal and EU consumers are still in the dark”, BEUC’s Head highlights from Brussels

This article was exclusively written for the Sting by Mrs Monique Goyens, the Director General of The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) At the end of June, Volkswagen car drivers in the US heard that the car company had agreed to provide compensation payments of up to $10,000 to each driver and promised to buy back the […]

VW emissions scandal: EU unable to protect its consumers against large multinationals

  European governments and officials seem incompetent to protect on the one hand their car consumers and on the other the environment, despite the crucial role Europe played in the climate change agreement that was signed last December in Paris. VW’s diesel emissions scandal has revealed so far that the multinational framework in Europe is much more beneficial for […]

A Sting Exclusive: “Consumer expectations for the 2015 UN summit on climate change”, Director General of BEUC Monique Goyens outlines from Brussels

The article is exclusively Co-authored for the Sting by Mrs Monique Goyens, Director General of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and Mrs Sylvia Maurer, Head of Sustainability and Safety in the organisation. The negative consequences of climate change are already and will increasingly be affecting consumers worldwide. We experience lower health standards due to air […]

The European Sting at the Retail Forum for Sustainability live from Barcelona

As part of the 18th European Eco-Innovation Forum on 20-22 May, the Retail Forum for Sustainability took place on 21 May in Barcelona and had a prominent place in the dialogue for a Greener European environment. The Forum came as a necessary module of the Eco-Innovation dialogue organised by the European Commission, DG Environment. The […]

Intel, Almunia and 1 billion euros for unfair potatoes

“The General Court upholds the fine of 1.06 billion euros ($ 1.4 billions) imposed on Intel for having abused its dominant position on the market for x86 central processing units between 2002 and 2007”. With these words the judge of the General Court of the European Union dismissed Intel’s action against the decision of the Commission […]

The Commission breathless behind the horsemeat scandal

The horsemeat scandal is still running free all over the European Union. Yesterday, a pompously named EU Commission group entitled, “Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health” (SCoFCAH), unanimously agreed in an extraordinary meeting, that the measures proposed by Commissioner Tonio Borg are adequate to counter the health and the fraud problem related to […]