On 23 June 2020, the European Commission published a roadmap concerning a review of the Consumer Credit Directive (CCD).
Following a REFIT Platform opinion recommending an assessment of the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the standard information to be included in advertising concerning credit agreements, the Commission evaluated the CCD in 2018-2019. The full results of that evaluation will be published this summer but broadly the Commission found that the CCD does not fully achieve its objectives, especially in the light of changing consumer and market needs.
Against this background, the Commission has decided to review the CCD in line with its ‘better regulation’ principles. This initiative has been included in the REFIT annex to the Commission’s 2020 work programme (as revised on 27 May 2020).
When discussing options the Commission covers, among other things, targeted legislative action to improve the CCD that relate to the key problems identified in the evaluation, also taking on board lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis. Such measures would not include new instruments or measures such as a cap on interest rates but could cover:
- Extending the scope of the CCD to credits below €200 and some other types of credit that are currently outside of its scope.
- Simplified rules to ensure better-structured, well-timed pre-contractual information, in line with the findings of behavioural insights.
- Harmonising standards and introducing common principles and rules for assessing creditworthiness.
The deadline for comments is 1 September 2020.
