BEUC is the umbrella group for 46 independent consumer organisations from 32 countries. Our main role is to represent them to the EU institutions and defend the interests of European consumers. Our acronym originates from our French name, ‘Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs’.

Our daily work involves making sure the EU takes policy decisions that improve the lives of consumers. This covers a range of topics including competition, consumer rights, digital rights, energy, redress and enforcement, financial services, food, health, safety, sustainability and trade policy.

The BEUC secretariat is in Brussels and has a staff of around 45.

BEUC’s strength: our members

We were founded in 1962 by consumer groups from six Member States of, what was then, the European Economic Community (EEC). Nowadays our members are from all 27 EU Member States as well as Iceland, North Macedonia, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. BEUC is acknowledged as a trustworthy representative by decision-makers, thanks in particular to the collective skills, knowledge and expertise of our member organisations.

For more information about our network, visit ‘our members’ page.

Vision

We aim to make consumers confident in the European Single Market. To ensure this confidence, we strive for protection and choice as drivers of consumer markets. This means giving people access to impartial information, allowing them to have enforceable rights and to be aware of these rights, and providing redress options they can use when something goes wrong.

Consumer policy has addressed many challenges over the decades. Some remain today: unfair treatment, rip-offs, products that fall short of expectations or that are outright dangerous. New challenges have arisen too: the climate crisis, medicines becoming less available and affordable and the rise of artificial intelligence. Well thought-out EU policies are needed to address these challenges and improve the quality of life of current and future generations.

BEUC strongly advocates putting the consumer interest at the core of systemic changes in how we produce and consume, while ensuring vulnerable groups (children, the elderly and low-income groups) are taken into account.