Commission Decision of 14 September 2009 setting up a European Consumer Consultative Group (2009/705/EC)

Article 3 Membership

1. The Group shall be composed of:

(a) one member representing national consumer organisations for each Member State;

(b) one member for each European consumer organisation.

2. The national consumer organisations referred to in paragraph 1(a) must be representative, in accordance with national rules or practice, of consumers and active at national level.

3. The European consumer organisations referred to in paragraph 1(b) must meet one of the two following sets of criteria:

(a) be non-governmental, non-profit-making, independent of industry, commerce and business or other conflicting interests, and

(i)

have as their primary objectives and activities the promotion and protection of the health, safety and economic interest of consumers in the Community,

(ii)

have been mandated to represent the interests of consumers at Community level by national consumer organisations in at least half of the Member States that are representative in accordance with national rules or practice, of consumers and are active at regional or national level, and

(iii)

have provided to the Commission satisfactory accounts of their membership, internal rules and sources of funding,

or

(b) be non-governmental, non-profit-making, independent of industry, commerce and business or other conflicting interests and

(i)

have as their primary objectives and activities to represent consumer interests in the standardisation process at Community level and

(ii)

have been mandated in at least two thirds of the Member States to represent the interests of consumers at Community level by:

• bodies representative, in accordance with national rules or practice, of national consumer organisations in the Member States, or

• in the absence of such bodies, by national consumer organisations in the Member States that are representative, in accordance with national rules and practice, of consumers and are active at national level.

4. An indicative list of organisations which currently meet the criteria laid down in paragraph 3 is set out in the Annex.