Consumer empowerment is very much a European topic today. A clear example is the European Commission´s new European Consumer Agenda. But what is the current status of the EU's 500 million consumers? What influence do they actually have and how can it be strengthened?

This seminar will analyse the state of empowerment of European consumers in relation to three main stages of their activity, namely acquiring, exercising and enforcing their rights. Hence, three aspects of consumer policy and regulation will be debated during the seminar: empowering consumers as political actors, empowering consumers as market participants and facilitating enforcement of consumer rights through special judicial and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

Time: Fredagen den 26 oktober 09:00-13:00. Registrering/kaffe från 8:30
Venue: Kungliga Myntkabinettet, Slottsbacken 6, Stockholm
Language: English

Register no later than 24 October

Programme

9.00 – 9.30 Introduction
Anna Stellinger, Head of Agency, SIEPS
Birgitta Ohlsson, Minister for EU Affairs
Gunnar Larsson, Director-General, Swedish Consumer Agency

9.30 – 10.30 Session 1 – Empowering the European consumer as a market participant
Chair
Ulf Bernitz, Professor of European Law, Stockholm University
Speakers
Karolina Zurek, Senior Researcher in Law, SIEPS: New turn in consumer protection – Have we all just become "buyers"?
Antonina Bakardjieva-Engelbrekt, Professor of Law, Stockholm University: Consumer empowerment in the European Union – weighing the institutional alternatives.

10.30 – 11.00 Coffee and sandwich break

11.00 – 11.45 Session 2 – Europeanisation and political participation of consumers
Chair
Anna Stellinger, Head of Agency, SIEPS
Speakers
Paolo Graziano, Associate Professor in Political Science, Bocconi University, Milan, and IUSS, Pavia: Europeanisation, consumer interest associations and EU consumer policy.
Michele Micheletti, Professor in Political Science, Stockholm University: Political consumerism: Responsibility-taking in the world today

11.45 – 12.30 Session 3 – Facilitating judicial process in consumer disputes
Chair
Antonina Bakardjieva-Engelbrekt, Professor of Law, Stockholm University
Speakers
Iris Benöhr, Postdoctoral Fellow in Law, Oxford University: EU consumer dispute resolution after the Lisbon Treaty
Laura Ervo, Professor of Law, Örebro University: Class action – a solution to access to justice problems?

12.30 – 13.00 Closing discussion