Original Contribution CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT IN THE COMMON EUROPEAN MARKET

The aim of the current article is to analyze the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard indicators on EU level and in Bulgaria for two consecutive years – 2010 and 2011. There are substantial differences in consumer conditions across Member States. The percentage of consumers who feel adequately protected by existing consumer measures ranges from less than 30 % to over 80 %. Similar discrepancies are observed in the levels of trust in public authorities, consumer organisations and sellers/providers. The differences in the prevalence of misleading and fraudulent advertisements/ offers, as reported by consumers, are as high as 30 %. There are also marked differences (of up to 50 %) in the perceived safety of products or the assessment of redress mechanisms (courts and ADR). In addition, the propensity of consumers to complain when things go wrong ranges from 40 % to over 90 %. In general, consumer conditions appear to be less favourable in the Eastern and Southern Member States (including Bulgaria), and the differences have not decreased systematically over the past years.