Consumer education

Buying and selling within markets requires knowledge of the corresponding rules and regulations while both businesses and consumers need to be capable to complying with these. Consumer transactions are covered by consumer protection legislation. Consumer transactions are those between a private individual and a business. Regulations govern aspects such as contracts, marketing and debt collection. The purpose of consumer legislation is to protect consumers’ interests.

Consumer legislation skills enable consumers to deal with commercial markets in a responsible manner. The key competence for a consumer is awareness of the rules and regulations when buying products and services. These skills are closely related to ethics, the ability to acquire and communicate information as well as technology skills.

Objectives

Learners will act responsibly in the commercial market sector and know their rights in connection with consumer transactions. They can assess the safety and quality of products and services and comply with operating instructions and warnings.

Learners will

• Know the core concepts of consumer transactions, forms of transactions, contractual obligations and individual rights and be aware of how to use these rights to their advantage and find information on them from reliable sources.
• Be aware of their right to receive safe products and services, be able to assess the safety of products and take responsibility for their own safety.
• Understand the significance of regulations, agreements and trust as prerequisites for the well-being of society and the markets. Be familiar with the basic concepts of Internet governance, which shape the development of the online technologies that influence consumer rights.
• Understand and use the basic functions of public digital technologies and services for the purpose of participating actively in societal processes.

Core contents

• Consumer legislation
  • Applicability of various legislation to consumer affairs
  • Legislation on restricting the activities of children and young people on the markets
  • EU Directives and national legislation
  • Cross-border legislation
  • Defects in products and services, warranties
  • EU's 10 rules for consumer protection
  • Consumer trade, contracts, terms of contract,
  • Credit
  • Marketing practices, informative product labelling
  • Operating instructions for consumers
• Forms of trade and transactions
  • Retail
  • Wholesale
  • Distance selling / online shopping / door-to-door selling
  • Transactions between private individuals
• Socially sustainable, responsible consumption
  • Being active, seeking help and participation
  • The consumer's own initiative in seeking information before entering into a binding contract
  • Searching for, using and complying with information and instructions as part of responsible consumption
  • Labels
  • Consumer benefits
  • Complaining
• Where to find consumer assistance
  • Options available to consumers faced with misleading or unfair marketing or terms of contract
  • Advisory services and settling consumer complaints
  • Consumer Ombudsmen, national agencies, consumer NGOs, the Network of European Consumer Centres (ECC), local consumer advisors
• Online markets
  • Use of online markets
  • Long-term contracts entered into inadvertently
  • Binding contracts
  • Filing complaints
  • One-time purchases (e.g. downloading a logo or wallpaper)
  • Standing subscriptions (e.g. subscribing to a weekly horoscope)
  • Data transfer (downloading games or videos from the Internet on a mobile phone)
  • Balance limit
  • Blocking services
  • Itemised invoices
  • Prepaid cards, cancelling a standing subscription
  • Additional services for devices, free services, liability services, blocking services, safety considerations
  • Data security and privacy protection in the digital environment