The purpose of this Staff Working Document is to present the conclusions of the evaluation of i) the ex-post evaluation of the 2004-2007 Programme of Community Action in the field of consumer protection; ii) the mid-term evaluation of the 2007-2013 Consumer Policy Strategy (hereafter the "Strategy"); and iii) the mid-term evaluation of the 2007-2013 Programme of Community Action in the field of consumer protection (hereafter the "Programme"). The Programme is the financial framework for funding actions necessary to achieve the objectives set by the Strategy.
Three main sources of data have been used in carrying out these evaluations: i) a literature review, ii) collection of numerical data and iii) consultations with key stakeholders in Parliament, the Commission services, EU and national organisations representing stakeholder interests and Member State authorities.
The evaluation stresses the added value of the Strategy and Programmes and highlights that the actions under the Strategy and Programmes contribute to the Europe 2020 objective of a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The Programmes and the Strategy have been increasingly successful in the integration of consumer policy into EU policies. The report suggests pursuing efforts in this field and addressing emerging challenges such as issues linked to digitalisation, moving towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and taking into account the vulnerability caused by the crisis.
Consumer market monitoring, through the Consumer Market Scoreboard and in-depth studies, has played a key role in supporting consumer policy. On product safety, coordination has increased between market surveillance authorities. The report shows the merit of further strengthening surveillance and enforcement through RAPEX, pursuing the efforts aimed at addressing the international dimension of the safety of products and capitalising on the use of new technologies, pursuing the efforts aimed at addressing the international dimension of the safety of products and capitalising on the use of new technologies.