Luncheon debate with Didier Reynders, European Commissioner of Justice

On 25 October, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg held a new lunch-debate within its “Business Circle” forum, in which the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders spoke about the evolution of consumer rights in the digital transition.

The event was inaugurated by the President of the Chamber, Pablo López-Álvarez, who thanked all those present for their attendance and presented the vast career of Reynders, who held the position of Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium until he assumed the direction of the Department of Consumer Affairs and Justice of the EU Executive in 2019.

As the Commissioner rightly remarked over lunch, achieving effective enforcement of EU consumer policy is one of his top priorities, given that the legislation was adopted nearly twenty years ago, when the electronic market had barely developed.

The arrival of the pandemic has only further highlighted the need to adapt the legislation to the new era, with the aim of assuring 21st century consumers that they will have the same guarantees in their online and offline purchases.

Online purchases

To this end, major online sales platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress have already committed to adopting new practices to make the purchasing process more secure. For its part, the Commission will continue to promote and improve the action plan with China, created to improve the security of the thousands of products that the Asian giant sells every day online.

During its mandate, the Von der Leyen Commission will also promote the manufacture of products framed within the circular economy, work on the effective implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or continue to cooperate with companies in the due diligence process on sustainability and human rights, among others.

Moreover, from July next year, it will work in close dialogue with Spain, which will hold the presidency of the Council during the second half of 2023.

After the speech, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and enter into direct conversation with Commissioner Reynders.

From the Chamber, we would like to show a special thanks to Mastercard, sponsor of the event, and to Bodegas Maires, whose wines could be tasted by all the attendees, which made this lunch-debate a very successful one.