CONSUMER SAFETY IN THE POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the issue of consumer safety in the Policy of the European Union and is based on the analysis of the legal acts of the Union law and the subject based literature. A great variety of methods and techniques have been used for this research. The institutional-legal method has been applied for the analysis of the selected regulations of the Union law, while the comparative method has been used to exemplify the possible consumer threats. The use of particular elements of the systems’ analysis was possible as the consumer policy has been recognized as part of the European Community’s Policy subsystem. The first part of the article reveals that consumer safety is the one of the core business areas of The European Union. Modern consumer policy guarantees the buyers a high level of protection in the three basic social areas: health safety, economic safety and efficient judicial dispute resolution. Health protection guarantees that any goods purchased on the territory of the European Union are consumer safe. Economical safety is to prevent any illegal and unfair market practices. The alternative dispute resolution provides the consumers with a higher sense of security. Mediation or arbitration procedures are cheaper, faster and more convenient than the ordinary lawsuit. The safety standards are mostly created within the programme and strategies of consumer policy. The final part of the article includes conclusions and considerations relating to consumer safety in the European Union. Moreover, it indicates that there is a need to monitor certain areas of the Union trade market and detect any risk posing products. Key words : consumer policy; consumer safety; consumer product safety; consumer protection; alternative dispute resolution.