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BEUC – AIM Common Principles for Consumer Information

Together with BEUC, AIM co-signed joint principles on consumer communication.

AIM and BEUC share the view that the provision of information to consumers should be effective, empowering consumers and enabling them to make informed choices, and efficient, keeping the cost of providing that information in proportion to its usefulness.

Both AIM and BEUC are concerned that the growing number and complexity of mandatory information requirements might not necessarily respond to consumers information needs and their usefulness and added value is not always supported by evidence. The provision of too much, complex, or conflicting information can leave the consumer no better informed, undermine consumer confidence and add unnecessarily to producers’ costs.

AIM and BEUC believe that it may be possible, working together and applying the following Common Principles, to devise a win-win solution in which the provision of consumer information is more effective and more efficient. These principles were written with regard to the provision of information about consumer goods; however, they may be equally applicable to the provision of consumer information in other sectors, including services.