Voluntary commitments by online platforms
The Consumer Protection Pledge sets out voluntary commitments of online platforms operating in the EU. It consists of two parts: the Product Safety Pledge + and Digital Consumer Rights Commitments.
Product Safety Pledge +
Consumer non-food products placed on the EU market must be safe, regardless of whether they are sold online or in brick-and-mortar shops.
The Product Safety Pledge + sets up areas where online intermediaries and other actors voluntarily agree to take specific actions with respect to the safety of non-food consumer products sold online by third parties on their marketplaces. The aim is to improve the detection of unsafe products marketed in the EU before they are sold to consumers or as soon thereafter as possible, and to improve consumer protection.
After the success of the initial Product Safety Pledge, which was signed in 2018, the now extended Product Safety Pledge + was completed and signed on 28 March 2023.
Digital Consumer Rights Commitments
Online marketplaces are important intermediaries between sellers and consumers. Many of them also sell directly to consumers.
They are therefore uniquely placed for ensuring a high level of consumer protection, by implementing the rules correctly and going beyond the existing rules, as well as promoting the compliance by the sellers.
The Digital Consumer Rights Commitments address some of the key aspects of consumer rights when using online marketplaces. They include commitments regarding the transparency of important information and marketing tools, namely consumer reviews and influencer marketing, as well as leverage the power of marketplaces to facilitate the exercise of certain EU consumer rights, and to offer training and advice to sellers operating on the marketplaces.
Signatories
Companies interested to join the Consumer Protection Pledge can contact the European Commission by writing to JUST-PSP-NOTIFICATION
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu
