BEUC NEWS - 14 May 2025

As the EU–UK Summit approaches, BEUC, the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, and Which? are publishing insights on how to put consumer protection at the heart of renewed cooperation between the EU and UK.

The paper outlines a series of actionable proposals to address common problems faced by consumers on both sides, including unsafe products sold online, payment fraud, high food prices, and lack of cross-border redress. It also highlights the particular challenges for consumers in Northern Ireland due to parcel delivery disruptions and complex trade arrangements.

In short, the EU and UK should:

• Fully implement market surveillance cooperation and consider UK participation in the EU Safety Gate system.
• Improve information-sharing to tackle scams and explore a joint agreement between the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC).
• Launch talks for a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement facilitate trade in food and contribute to making food more affordable to consumers, while maintaining robust checks.
• Explore a sectoral roaming agreement to reduce costs for mobile users.
• Monitor trade flows in Northern Ireland and create a dialogue on parcels between authorities, consumer organisations and operators to preserve consumer choice.  
• Enable better cross-border redress by supporting the UK’s accession to the Lugano Convention.

Read the full report here.

Background:

BEUC and its member organisations have closely followed the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU. The new relationship between the two sides, agreed in late December 2020, is unique as it started from an integrated market where European and UK consumers enjoyed a harmonised legal, supervisory and enforcement framework.

Geographic proximity requires continued cooperation between the two sides into the future. We will be monitoring new problems arising for consumers in this new context, such as hurdles when buying online. We will also check EU-UK efforts – or lack thereof – to cooperate on files that directly impact consumers, such as product safety, climate change, and the enforcement of consumer rights.

BEUC is a member of the EU’s domestic advisory group which provides advice on the implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.