ISSN: 2278-3369 International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics Available online at www.managementjournal.info RESEARCH ARTICLE Csilla Margit Csiszar| Nov.-Dec. 2012 | Vol.1 | Issue 6|124-132 124 Analysis of Consumer Organisations in Europe Csilla Margit Csiszar* Institute of Business Sciences, Faculty of Economic,University of Miskolc, Miskolc Hungary. *Corresponding Author: E-mail: E-mail: csiszar.csilla@uni-miskolc.hu Abstract The research is concerned with the institutional systems of the consumer protection and their evaluation made by the population. It analyses three institutional systems in Europe, like Hungary, the United Kingdom and Germany as typical examples of the three specific institutional structures. The study introduces the European practice of governmental subsidies in consumer protection. It analysis the public’s judgement on the operating institutional systems on European level, assuming relationship among the amounts of state subsidy devoted for consumer protection by the European Union member countries, the level of trust laid in the institutional systems of consumer protection and the degree of satisfaction with them. Keywords: Consumer organisations, Consumer protection, Consumer satisfaction, Consumer confidence. Introduction In the member states of the European Union nearly 500 million customers need to be provided by relatively standardised, high-level consumer protection. To make it possible, a system with appropriate tools and institutions is required that shows different characteristics from country to country. The aim of this study is to shortly describe the various structures of consumer protection institutions operating in Europe on the one hand and to analyse how satisfied the public is with the organizations and how much are they trust in them on the other. The part of this study dealing with organisational structures is based on scientific literature and on legal processing, while the analysis of public judgement is based on secondary information, on the analysis of Eurobarometer and Flashbarometer survey results made by the European Commission. The assumption of the research is that the amount of state subsidy granted for consumer protection influences the level of satisfaction with both the governmental and non-governmental institutional systems as well as the level of trust placed in them. The assumption assumed that a higher amount of subsidy can result a more effective supervisory-, control activity of consumer protection and can result a higher level of consumer protection interest which is also perceivable by the consumers. Interpretation of Consumer Protection Activity and Institution In most cases we can meet with the questions of consumer protection in scientific literature in legal context, as the legislative activity can primarily be considered as consumer protection activity. We can speak secondarily about those activities which are dealing with enforcement and execution of legal rules concerning consumer protection, such as supervision, consultation, and education and information provision. In a broader interpretation, activities of consumer interest examination, interest representation, situation examination, information collection as well as assistance in creation of consumer protection legislation also relate to this term. The term of institution needs to be explained as well, as the domains of consumer protection use it in many different interpretations. The various possibilities of interpretation of the definition can be summarised below based on the work of Farkas. In an economic point of view, an institution can mean an organisation or a subsystem of the society. In a legal point of view, under institution we mean mainly legal institutions marking specific systems of the regulations and their execution. In a sociological point of view, the observable regularity of behaviour and the probability of attitudes and willingness for interpretation can also be called institution. The present study applies the term of institution for organisations of consumer protection and for authorities.