The vote introduces a number of minimum harmonisation clauses that leave Member States at liberty to keep or develop a myriad of additional requirements to the directive. According to an impact assessment run by the European Commission, this will cost each business over €70,000 to adapt to 27 fragmented legal frameworks.

“These are huge administrative and financial burdens, especially for small businesses,” said Abruzzini.

The significant changes introduced by the European Parliament should prompt a further impact assessment. EUROCHAMBRES now hopes that the wiser approach taken by the Council will prevail during the negotiations and that the vote of today will prove a mere hiccup in the process.

A chocolate illustration
SingleMarketChocolates could be a small business based in Belgium that sells chocolate online. In 2008, the company decided to extend business through the entire EU and invested €70,526 in legal research to adapt their terms and conditions to the consumer rights regimes of the 27 EU Member States. As a consequence of today’s European Parliament vote, the consumer rights framework has changed without harmonisation. The chocolate company is now obliged to invest a further €70,000 in legal costs to update its contractual terms. The initial proposal of the European Commission that aimed at harmonising consumer rights in Europe would have cut these costs to €2,153.