ABSTRACT
Legal academics and policy observers have often claimed that the new horizontal consumer clause, also frequently called the 'consumer integration clause', has to be seen as a truly original innovation able to give visibility and strength to the European Union (EU's) engagement to consumer protection. They claim the fact that the exact normative consequences of this clause are far from being evident for a number of sound reasons. It is fairly clear that the horizontal consumer clause encapsulated in Article 12 imposes not only an obligation on EU institutions, but also on Member States to integrate consumer protection objectives when implementing existing EU acts and measures. According to the Consumer Policy Strategy, 'the development of consumer policy at EU level constitutes an essential requirement for the progressive establishment of the internal market'. It has been widely claimed that in the post-Lisbon era the EU Commission has focused time and energy on the pursuit of consumer protection objectives.
