More than half the European websites that sell electronic
consumer goods arenot complying with the law, the European Commission
has found.
Police and trading standard authorities are now following up the
findings with website owners. Six of the 14 UK websites studied
will receive a visit from the authorities.
The market for online retail sales of consumer electronic goods
in Europe was about €6.8bn in 2007 and a lot more now. About one in
four EU consumers who ever bought anything online bought an
electronic product, including cameras, the EC said.
The study covered 369 websites in 26 member states plus Norway
and Iceland that sold the six most popular electronic goods in the
EU - digital cameras, mobile phones, personal music players, DVD
players, computer equipment and game consoles.
Researchers looked into misleading advertising and unfair
practices. They found 55% of the websites investigated showed
irregularities relating in particular to:
- Misleading information about consumer rights
- Misleading information about the total cost of the product
- Incomplete contact details for the trader.
Some 13% of the bad sites will require cross-border cooperation
between the authorities.
Two-thirds of the bad sites had misleading information about
consumer rights. Some 45% has misleading information about the
total price, and a third had missing or incomplete contact details
of the trader.
Iceland, Latvia and Norway have published names of the websites
covered by the investigation.
EU consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva said the commission was
responding to consumer complaints. "I know from my own mail bag
that these are a real problem area for consumers," she said.
The investigation started in May to check compliance with three
EU consumer laws: the Distance Selling Directive, the E-Commerce
Directive, and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.
The EU-wide enforcement results will be presented by mid-2010.
The EU has also published
samples of good and bad websites selling electronic goods.
The sweep investigation focused on three areas:
- Contact information for the trader: Under EU law, there must be
complete information about the name, geographical address and email
address of the trader.
- Clear information about the offer (total price and clear
product description): Under EU law online traders must provide
clear information about the characteristics of the product, as well
as the total cost (including taxes), all extra delivery costs and
payment arrangements. The final price to pay must be the same as
stated in the information provided before the purchase.
- Clear information about consumer rights: Under EU law,
consumers must be given information about their "right to return",
ie, a good bought at a distance can be returned without giving a
reason within a minimum of seven days.
The investigation also checked the accuracy of additional
information provided about consumer rights such as warrantees and
refunds.