BRUSSELS, Nov 8 (Reuter) - The European Commission envisages a shift away from new consumer legislation towards education and information which will help consumers look after their own interests, Consumer Affairs Commissioner Emma Bonino said on Wednesday. Introducing the Commission's three-year consumer policy plan for 1996-1998 she said the focus of consumer policy should move from the internal market towards new areas like the information society, public utilities, financial services and food quality. The programme -- "Priorities for consumer policy 1996 - 1998", unveiled at a news conference a day before it is presented to the Consumer Council, is therefore a list of priority areas rather than a list of specific pieces of legislation, she said. As regards the information society, the Commission wants to ensure that all people have access to the system, through new education and training possibilities. "There is a need to ensure that everyone who wants to can draw benefit from this development," it said

in a statement. "We need to carefully shape development so that widespread access is assured and again education needs to be adjusted to this new development," it said. As regards financial services, the Commission said consumer studies had revealed dissatisfaction with the level of information available to protect their interests. Bonino said that, for example, citizens using credit cards would often not be aware of the different levels of charges from one member state to the next. The Commission says in the programme it will pay particular interest to the question of over-indebtedness and consumer- related aspects of mortgage credit. According to the programme a major concern at the Commission is the fact that most member states are not fully implementing the 1989 recommendation on payment systems (89/590/EEC), which is intended to offer protection to consumers using payment systems. The Commission said essential public utility services continued to create a variety of consumer-related problems from qualit

y to efficiency and cost and that it would continue to press for liberalisation of the services and particularly to ensure that the principle of "universal service" is applied. It also highlighted problems with the purity and safety of foods, which the Commission intends to deal with in a green paper on foodstuffs legislation. The Commission, it said, would review whether legislation on food labelling was suitable. "It is not clear whether all the information available on labels is really helpful to consumers. The time is coming to review and simplify this legislation where necessary," it said. "Weaknesses in the system of control of the whole production chain, unless corrected, could quickly reduce signficantly public confidence," it said, adding it would also reflect on the question of product liability to include primary producers. Among the other priorities set by the Commission are to help consumers play their part in sustainable development, transfer the EU's experience on consumer policy to the centra

l and eastern European countries and developing countries and strengthening and increasing consumer representation. It also vowed to ensure application of existing single market-related consumer legislation where this has been laxly applied, but would "assess the opportunity of reviewing and adjusting such legislation."