Joint Statement on the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive (DMFSD) by the European Financial Services industry

The European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB) has been following the negotiations and the legislative process concerning the review of the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive (DMFSD), put forth by the Commission in May 2022.
 
Along with other financial services Associations (the European Banking Federation (EBF), the European Savings Banks Group (ESBG), the European Mortgage Federation-European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC), Lease Europe, Eurofinas), we are now presenting a Joint Statement on the DMFSD provisions.
 
We acknowledge the value of enhancing the “safety net” feature of this newly introduced legislative text, as well as those principles underpinning consumer protection, namely the right to withdraw. Nevertheless, we see possibilities of improvement on certain key points of the right of withdrawal, with the aim of granting sufficient room for maneuver to financial services providers, so they can adjust IT solutions suitable for consumers and bespoke to their business model. Moreover, it is of importance to underline that the Commission proposal on the DMFSD was meant to review rules mainly governing the financial services sector; thus, we are not in favour of extending the relevant DMFSD provisions to the whole spectrum of the Consumer Rights Directive. Lastly, the prevalence of sectoral specific rules, in the interplay with the general ones set out in the new DMFSD, is of utmost importance in order to ensure legal certainty, in the context of EU better regulation principles.