Under the revised rules, member states would no longer be allowed to set less strict standards to be applied by businesses, such as the length of the legal guarantee imposed on the seller or the so-called cooling-off period during which a consumer can return the purchased product.
The commission also suggested common EU rules could be introduced for dealing with the damage caused by companies not fulfilling the agreed conditions - an area currently tackled at EU level only for the package travel.
Finally, the foreseen legislation would also apply to digital products such as MP3 downloads which were not in place at the time when some older laws had been adopted.