International

Consumers must have easier ways of enforcing rights when they become the victim of restrictive practice agreements between corporations, says Dennis de Jong, leader of the SP group in the European Parliament.

De Jong believes that not only individual consumers but also interest groups should have the right to take a corporation to court. "For individual consumers it can be extremely difficult to win your rights in court. Ordinary citizens find themselves tangled up in incomprehensible judicial language and procedures. The Consumers' Association should, for instance, have the right to present a class action on behalf of everyone affected. That would save consumers a lot of frustration and the courts a great deal of time, because otherwise they will have to treat each case separately."

De Jong is hoping that other parties in the European Parliament will take up the proposal and give their support to consumers' rights.