The Netherlands Consumer Authority aims to take actions that yield maximum results, given its limited resources. One way to achieve this is following a policy of selective enforcement, which means that, based on transparent and well-reasoned grounds, only certain cases are taken up and others are not.
It is important to note that this freedom of choice in decision-making is limited to 'national' cases only. After all, the Netherlands Consumer Authority is required to comply with requests for assistance that are submitted by other EU member states.
Prioritisation takes place in two phases. Each year, the Netherlands Consumer Authority consults with stakeholders about potential areas of priority. This consultation process results in an Agenda, which is a publicly released document. These areas of priority are usually certain specific market areas or specific types of violations. Once these areas of priority have been identified, a program is then launched in which the chosen approach to the specific problem is determined (such as changing behaviour in a particular market), along with selecting the necessary resources and instruments to be used in tackling the identified problem.
Download the Agenda of the Netherlands Consumer Authority for 2010 and 2011
The second phase is the enforcement of the Prioritisation Policy. If faced with multiple violations, the Netherlands Consumer Authority will use the following criteria to determine the order of priority:
- The size of the damage suffered by consumers - e.g. when a large group of consumers is (potentially) misled and the loss per consumer is considerable.
- The impact on consumer confidence - a particular issue is relevant from the perspective of restoring or increasing consumer confidence.
- The impact on the market - certain behaviour has a negative effect on the level of (fair) competition.
- Does the case fit the priorities set in the Agenda?
- Are there important reasons of general interest to take up the case?
- Is the company involved a repeat offender?
- Is the Netherlands Consumer Authority able to solve the current situation effectively and is there no other institution/person better suited to solve the situation?
- What is the ratio between the use of resources and the expected results?
In each case, the Netherlands Consumer Authority thus takes a 'go' or 'no-go' decision.
