The present study was conducted from May to October 2013, commissioned by the European Economic and Social Committee (“EESC”) and carried out by the European Centre for Liberal Professions, University of Cologne (“ECLP”).

This study was carried out by the European Centre for Liberal Professions following a call for tenders launched by the European Economic and Social Committee.

The mandate for this study was to undertake an evaluation of EU external action as managed by three DGs: DG RELEX, DG DEV and DG AIDCO. The Terms of Reference identified two main objectives (ToR, Feb 2010, Section 1 – reproduced in Annex 1): · To provide an overall independent assessment of...

This guide shows how a life cycle approach can be used to identify and reduce the environmental and health impacts of the products we use. It underlines the importance of considering these issues across the entire life cycle of a product and sets them within the context of policy development,...

This Country Focus studies the development of private consumption in France during the decade before the crisis. Are French consumers greater spendthrifts than their European fellows? In this paper, we estimate a consumption function to show that strong growth of private consumption in France...

In Germany private consumption virtually stagnated for nearly a decade and clearly lagged behind GDP growth. This Country Focus uses the estimation of a consumption function to show that the drop in employment is the most important factor behind the reluctance to consume in the first half of...

This study about legal and commercial guarantees, funded by the European Union in the frame of the EU Consumer Programme (2014-2020), looks at the extent to which sellers are aware of, and comply with, relevant EU legislation; the way in which legal and commercial guarantees are communicated to...

The overall purpose of this Behavioural Study on the Transparency of Online Platforms is to understand the impact of enhanced transparency on consumer trust and behaviour in searching and selecting goods and services on online platforms in three specific areas: Area #1: The general criteria used...

Previous research has shown that when buying products and services online, the vast majority of consumers accept Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) without even reading them. The current research examined effects of interventions aimed at making consumers aware of the quality of such T&Cs. This was...