On 28 October, the IMCO Committee held a public hearing on dual quality of goods in the Single Market. The aim of this hearing is to provide an overview of the state of play on ‘dual quality’.
Experts (e.g. from consumer associations and business organisations) highlighted the challenges that dual quality practices have created both for consumers and the industry, among others in terms of consumer information about the differentiation of goods. They also addressed the problem of how to raise consumer awareness of the issue. The Commission provided an overview of the progress, which has been made by Member States to meet the transposition deadline (28 November 2021) of Directive 2019/2161, introducing a new provision on dual quality in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) presented the recent developments of its work on dual quality of goods.