The Consumer Scoreboard

The Consumer
Scoreboard provides an evidence base for policy action and regulation that is
driven by a better understanding of real outcomes for consumers. It helps
policy makers to ensure that policies take better account of consumers' expectations
and concerns, and to identify priority areas to be addressed in order to
improve consumer conditions. The Consumer Scoreboard data also provide
important insights into how the markets function from the consumers'
perspective and are thus an important contribution to this process.

The
majority of the scoreboard data comes from the annual market monitoring survey
which measures consumer experiences and perceived conditions in 21 goods and 30
services markets accounting for around 60% of the household expenditure.
Consumer conditions in each market are assessed on the basis of the six main
criteria: comparability, trust, problems and complaints, satisfaction, choice
and switching.

According
to the Consumer Scoreboard, Malta comes in the 5th position in the overall
ranking. Major differences in the national Market Performance Indicator (nMPI)
and ranking were recorded this year and may be explained by the smaller base
size used for the country. 20 markets show large differences in the nMPI from
last years and 10 markets show large differences form the EU27 scores. The 2012
goods market ranking is very different from last year's. Fruit and vegetables
and clothing and footwear are rated above their 2011 levels both in terms of
nMPI and ranking. Entertainment goods, electronic products, and spectacles and
lenses are all assessed less favourably than last year, again in terms of the
nMPI and the ranking.

There
are obvious differences in the EU 27 ranking of goods markets with 5 markets
differing widely both in terms of the MPI and the ranking. The markets for the
meat and meat products, fruit ad vegetables, and clothing and footwear are
assessed better than average, while the markets for spectacles and lenses and
large household appliances are assessed worse than average.

The
service markets' ranking is rather different from the 2011 ranking. Private
life insurance is rated better than last year in terms of both the MPI and the
ranking, while gambling and lottery are considered less favourably for these
indicators.

There
are large differences in the EU 27 ranking. The largest is recorded for the
tram, local bus and metro market, with a difference of 14.3 points from the
average. This could be linked to the privatisation of the bus network. The
market assessments of bank accounts, mortgages as well as loans, credit and
credit cards are all better than average both in terms of the nMPI and the
ranking.