3. Welcomes the Commission's proposals in its 2012 Work Programme to review consumer policy and its legislative strategy, integrating initiatives across all its responsible services; notes, in particular, the need to ensure that consumers throughout the EU receive the full protection offered by key items of legislation, such as the Unfair Commercial Practices and Consumer Credit Directives;

45. Calls on the Commission to include a consumer accessibility element in the Consumer Agenda in order to make sure that vulnerable groups have access to the essential products and services they need; points out that this will clearly demonstrate the social dimension of consumer policies;

E. whereas consumer policy should cover the purchase and sale not just of products but also of services offered by the public and private sectors, and whereas vulnerable consumers – women, elderly persons and disadvantaged social groups –, who more often fall prey to unscrupulous service providers, should be suitably protected,

The collection and exchange of data and information that provide an evidence base for the development of consumer policy and for the integration of consumer interests into other Community policies, including, surveys of consumer and business attitudes, in particular the way in which differing legal regimes and the lack of effective cross-border redress mechanisms affect consumer behaviour in the internal market, consumer-related and other market research in the financial services area, collection and analysis of s ...[+++]tatistical and other relevant data, the statistical element of which will be developed using as necessary the Community Statistical Programme.

88. Calls on the Commission and the candidate countries to improve the implementation of consumer policy and, in particular, to institute effective consultation mechanisms, to resolve the problem of support to consumer NGOs and to encourage efforts for education in schools and information of the population regarding consumer rights and obligations; also, the Commission and the candidate countries should, while and after transposing the acquis communautaire, pay special attention to issues concerning Community-wide regulation of food safety and nutrition, telecommunication services ...[+++], financial services and product safety in the widest possible sense; in addition, the greatest possible account must continually be taken of food safety and food policy, especially as this is of great importance for the operation of the internal market;

Then there are two corporate branches. There is the Corporate Services Branch, which does administration, finance, facilities management, infomatics the usual things; and then the smallest branch, which is my branch, is the Policy and Consultation Branch, which has responsibilities for planning, communications, federal-provincial relations, and international relations, and also looks after substantive policy areas such as the Canada ...[+++] Health Act, women's health, and other major policy issues such as new reproductive technologies.