Out-Law News 1 min. read

EU study identifies consumer law compliance issues in sale of telecoms services


A study of 207 websites selling telecoms, internet, and audio and visual streaming services has found that the majority could be infringing EU consumer law.

The European Commission and national consumer law regulators carried out a screening of websites across Europe. It said the study had found potential infringements on 163 of the sites, such as misleading sales pitches. 

Issues identified in the screening process included the advertisement of allegedly free or discounted packages that were in fact a bundled offer, the lack of a dispute resolution system, or the fact that a website can change the terms of the contract without information or justification to the customer.

The most common issue identified was the lack of a link to the European online dispute resolution platform. More than two thirds of the websites screened did not provide customers with information on their dispute resolution options and over a third had no description of a dispute resolution option.

The European Commission said half of websites analysed were advertising a package of services as being free or discounted, when actually they were a service offered in a bundled package.

Almost a third of the websites screened were able to unilaterally change the terms of the contract or the service characteristics without informing the consumer and without allowing the consumer to cancel the contract, and a quarter did not provide clear information about compensation and refund arrangements. The Commission also said that more than a fifth of the websites (21.7%) did not provide clear and comprehensive information on automatic contract renewal, and 31.9% did not have clear contact information.

Following the screening exercise, national authorities are to further examine the 163 websites with irregularities. The Commission said that if problems are found, the companies behind the websites will have to fix them.

The sweep of the telecoms websites follows previous exercises focusing on other sectors such as travel, consumer credit and electronic goods.

EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality Věra Jourová said: "Consumers use their mobile phone or internet subscriptions every day and should be able to trust these services. This screening confirms, however, that a number of websites selling such services are misleading consumers by advertising fake discounts or not providing the full information necessary to make an informed choice. I expect the false and misleading information to be corrected as soon as possible to ensure the sector fully respects EU consumer rules."

The findings of the sweep follow the April 2018 announcement of plans to overhaul consumer protection laws. Dubbed ‘a new deal for consumers’, the reforms would allow national regulators to impose fines of up to 4% of a company’s turnover if found guilty of breaching consumer laws.

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