The Consumerism and Consumer Protection Policies in the European Community

Abstract. In the modern economy, the efficiency of the markets generally guarantees an effective superiority of the consumers, that unjustly consider them to be affected by large-scale diffusing of the consumption process, but which in reality are not more than the free choice expression of the consumers, practically of their own autonomy. Starting from these aspects, the authors have aimed, after a short presentation of the consumer protection policies and the origins and evolution of the consumption phenomenon within the EU, to identify and analyze the critical elements with impacts over these policies, but also the first steps made by the institutions and legislation of the states that make the European Community. Our attention has been mainly focused on the future strategies programmed by the EC, highlighting the support and harmony encouragement necessity between the national legislations of the EU member states, in order to answer first of all to the more pressing demand, on behalf of the citizens, to have laws as simple and clear as possible, and therefore to be protected. Therefore, consumer protection becomes, from an objective mediated through individual interventions of the Community Institutions (inspired by the harmonization wish of the national legislation afferent to the EU member states regarding economical and commercial relations) one of the main intervention policies of the Community Organisms