There is often simply a lack of awareness that consumers' needs are not identical.

Marie-Josée Ries headed the Internal Market and Consumer Policy Department at the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy from 2009 to December 2018, before taking up her position at the newly created Ministry of Consumer Protection, which has since been responsible for consumer protection policy in Luxembourg. Since the restructuring in 2023, the Directorate for Consumer Protection has taken over the tasks of the former department and she heads the department responsible for the economic interests of consumers.

She holds an MA (Magister artium) in Humanities from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Germany) and a DEC (Diplôme d'études complémentaires) in Economics from the Université catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve.

Ms Ries, thank you for your time. For our readers who are not familiar with the Directorate for Consumer Protection (DPC), could you briefly introduce your department?

Our Directorate is responsible for consumer protection policy in Luxembourg and strives to create an environment in which consumers are informed, educated and protected. We actively support the further development of consumer policy in the internal market and its implementation at national level, and ensure that consumer rights are upheld in commercial transactions.

One of the OSAPS's missions is to raise awareness among economic actors of the importance of accessibility. What recurring barriers for people with disabilities does the DPC encounter in its daily work?

Consumer protection in the EU already goes a long way; it is not without reason that consumers in the European Union are considered the best protected in the world. The basic assumption for many rules in our field is that there is a so-called average consumer who is "averagely informed, observant and circumspect". Even though there are many additional specific laws and regulations to support or protect special groups, there is also a certain tendency to treat "all" consumers the same. In everyday life, we see that this does not correspond to reality, e.g. when we check prices in shops and the price information is displayed so high up on a wall that a small person or a person in a wheelchair, for example, cannot read it, or important information can only be found in the small print. 

Often, there is simply a lack of awareness that consumers' needs are not identical. I would like to emphasise that as soon as we draw attention to such shortcomings, business people are certainly willing to make improvements.

How do you envisage the collaboration between the DPC and the OSAPS?

I believe that both sides can learn from each other and advance their respective fields of activity through cooperation. What do I mean by this? The focus of the OSAPS is on accessibility, while that of our directorate is on consumer protection. If we bring the two closer together and manage to view situations or problems through both lenses, we will certainly be able to develop solutions that benefit all consumers, with or without (permanent) disabilities.

 Finally, what are your hopes for the future in general when it comes to accessibility?

It would be desirable if the design of accessible products and services became the standard, so that it would be so ingrained in our DNA that products and services that are not accessible per se, or at least cannot be made accessible without significant effort, would not be brought to market. Consumers would then be able to make purchasing decisions based on their wishes and needs and benefit from the products and services on offer.

Thank you very much for this brief conversation.