BRUSSELS, July 7 (Reuters) - The European Union wants to standardise the way consumer complaints are collected across the 27-nation bloc to address citizens' concerns better, the EU consumer affairs chief said on Tuesday.
The European Commission, the EU's executive, said it hoped to improve statistics that showed nearly half of the about 78 million consumers who registered complaints with businesses in 2008 were unhappy with how they were handled.
The Commission said it would open public consultations on an EU-wide method of classifying and reporting complaints so that markets which are failing consumers could be quickly targeted.
"When a consumer decides to go through the stress and effort of filing a complaint, this usually means that the case is serious," EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said.
"A flood of similar complaints can be a strong sign of a market that is failing consumers."
The Commission is trying to battle disillusionment with the performance of EU leaders after a record-low turnout in a European Parliament election last month.
It said it wanted to standardise the way complaints are collected by using a common grid of criteria to classify cases because 700 third-party organisations collect consumer complaints in Europe, and each classifies them differently.
Under the proposed system, organisations that opt to use the classification system can send their data to the Commission on a voluntary basis. The Commission will make the data public. (Reporting by Caroline Linton; Editing by Charles Dick)