14 January 2019

European Commission: Evaluation of the consumer credit directive

The evaluation will assess the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value of the Consumer Credit Directive. It will focus on progress made to date, costs and benefits in relation to different stakeholders and whether original objectives and tools of the Directive correspond to current needs.

In recent years, the consumer credit market has developed quickly. In particular, an increasingly digitalised market undergoing continuous innovation creates both opportunities and risks for lenders and consumers. In this context, it is necessary to evaluate the functioning of the Directive in the EU, including whether the rules of the Consumer Credit Directive are fit for purpose.

The evaluation will assess the:

• effectiveness: whether original objectives have been achieved,
• efficiency: the functioning of the Directive from a simplification and burden reduction perspective,
• coherence: how the Directive works together with other legislation in the field of retail financial services, consumer protection and data protection,
• relevance: whether the tools of the Directive correspond to current needs, and
• EU added value of the Directive: whether the EU intervention has delivered additional added value, compared to national actions.

The evaluation will focus on developments since 2008, costs and benefits in relation to different stakeholders. Alongside a qualitative analysis, a quantitative assessment of actual costs and benefits including impacts on business, consumers and authorities will also be carried out.

The evaluation will gather evidence regarding the functioning of the Directive in its totality and in particular, regarding the following aspects:

• design and distribution phases of credit products
• cross-selling of credits with other financial products
• creditworthiness assessment
• credit registers
• information disclosure
• rights of withdrawal
• right of early repayment

The evaluation should also cover elements of national regulatory practices that may be of relevance in a cross border context but not currently covered by the Directive, including for example rules on usury or predatory lending and authorisation and supervisory requirements.

Evaluation roadmap

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