consumers and services of general interest.docVIP

Consumers and Services of General Interest Prof. Dr. Peter Rott* A. Introduction Services of general interest are relative newcomers in the field of consumer law. The notion of services of general interest circumscribes – at least – those network services that were originally provided by the State, in particular telecommunications services, postal services and the supply with electricity, gas and water. The user of such services used to be protected by public law principles such as the principles of equality, proportionality and of course the principle of compulsory provision of service, although it must be said that these rules did not always offer a high level of protection at all. Since the 1980s, however, the EC has pressed for the liberalisation of these markets, and many formerly state-owned companies were privatised. Their relationship with their customers was thereby transferred from the public law sphere into private law. Consequently, services of general interest have also become an issue of consumer law. They form part of the Consumer Policy Strategies 2002-2006 and 2007-2013 where they have been identified as one field to focus activities on. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the legal position of consumers vis-à-vis the provider of services of general economic interest has traditionally been particularly week in many EC Member States, and that consumer protection in this field is therefore an issue of some urgency. Misleading advertising for mobile phone tariffs, unfair contract terms in the mobile phone sector, delayed trains, high electricity and gas prices, incorrect bills, and the threat of interrupted supply in the case of the consumers refusal to pay such incorrect bills are some of the most common consumer complaints. Some of these issues, however, are well covered by existing EC consumer law, and it would merely be necessary to disallow national privileges for providers of certain services of general interest. Therefore, the question that I