News

EU: tighter regulation necessary to prevent e-commerce malpractice

Monday 14 September 2009 00:15 CET | News

After announcing the results of an investigation related to unfair practices on online platforms selling consumer electronics and involving 26 EU member states, the European Union is likely to introduce stricter rules to impede misleading advertising and such by e-commerce providers selling electronic devices.

The survey conducted by the European Commission indicates that over half of European websites selling electronic goods do not respect EU rules. Nearly 66 percent of the 369 checked websites provide online buyers with misleading information about consumer rights, including their right to return – the right to cancel an order bought a distance within a minimum of 7 days and return the product without giving a reason. 45 percent of problem websites offer misleading information about the total price of a product, while 33 percent of the websites involved in the survey do not provide the customer with complete contact details of the trader.

This is a Europe-wide problem which needs a European solution. There is a lot of work to be done in the months ahead to clean up this sector. Europes consumers deserve better. the EU consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva states.

In 2007, online retail sales of consumer electronic devices reached almost EUR 6.8 billion in Europe.
 


Free Headlines in your E-mail

Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.

Subscribe now

Keywords: European Commission, e-commerce providers, misleading advertising, electronic devices, e-commerce malpractice, Meglena Kuneva
Categories: Payments & Commerce
Companies:
Countries: World
This article is part of category

Payments & Commerce






Industry Events