Law Enforcement in the EU Tamás Molnár The European Commission Directorate General for Health and Consumers ODR Conference Vienna. / March 2010

YES* *NO

Proportion of consumers that complaines (2005 Feb +12 months) Source: Special Eurobarometer: Consumer Protection in the Internal Market, June 2006 (p31)

The last decade is a success story in the EU – New laws New horizontal legislations E-commerce Directive Unfair Commercial Practices Directive The European Small Claims Regulation New sectoral legislations Air Services Regulation

The last decade is a success story in the EU – Dispute Resolution Individual complaints/claims European Consumer Centres ( cases/year) ADR Recommendations / Hundreds of schemes ADR cases in 2008 (+25% over 2006) European Small Claims procedure Collective Redress Currently evaluated

CPC Enforcement cooperation To defend the collective interest of consumers (no redress/individual) Only cross border practices Network of national enforcement authorities (300) participants 30 countries

How the network operates Day-to-day business Alerts (216) Investigations (490) Measure taking to stop infringing practices (525) Plan activities in advance (Annual Enforcement Action Plans) Sweeps Common activities Exchange of officials Workshops New forms of cooperation (Expert groups)

Applicable Directive(Enforcement requests – since Dec 2006)Nbr of cases Council Directive 84/450/EEC misleading advertising33 Council Directive 85/577/EEC contracts negotiated away from business premises8 Council Directive 90/314/EEC package travel, package holiday and package tours1 Council Directive 93/13/EEC unfair terms in consumer contracts41 Directive 1999/44/EC sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees17 Directive 2000/31/EC electronic commerce119 Directive 2001/83/EC medicinal products for human use13 Directive 2002/65/EC distance marketing of consumer financial services3 Directive 2005/29/EC on Unfair Commercial Practices195 Directive 97/55/EC misleading advertising so as to include comparative advertising3 Directive 97/7/EC distance contracts68 Directive 98/6/EC indication of prices10 Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 denied boarding and cancellation or long delay of flights14 Sum:525

2009 SWEEP on electronic goods 28 CPC members participated in the 1 st phase 369 websites were checked altogether 206 (56%) websites require further investigation: 176 national cases 30 CPC cases, out of which 2 coordination cases The great majority of MS checked between 10 – 20 websites Mystery shopping exercise

Detected potential breaches Most frequent irregularities found in the 2009 Sweep: Inaccurate info concerning buyers rights, e.g. right of withdrawal, right to the legal guarantee: 131 websites (36% of total number of websites checked) Incomplete info about the total cost: 96 websites (25%) Missing contact details of the trader: 65 websites (18%) No information on extra delivery cost where it could be calculated in advance: 30 websites (8%)

European Consumer Centres Network

THE ECC Network A one-stop shop network to assist consumers experiencing problems with cross- border transactions in the Internal Market  Rights / Language / Advise  No representation before courts! 27 Member States, plus Norway and Iceland contacts with consumers a year  Average claim: 560 Euro BUT only 1% goes to ADR systems  Information / Language / Cost / Compliance by business

Regulation 861/ The European Small Claims procedure Civil and commercial cross border matters The value of a claim < 2000 €. The procedure applies to pecuniary claims as well as to non- pecuniary claims. Simplifications: Written procedure: standard forms to be used Time limits for the parties and for the court – less than 4 months The court may hold a hearing or take evidence through a video conference or other communications technology if the technical means are available. No legal representation is required - evidence through written statements of witnesses, experts or parties.

Regulation 861/ The European Small Claims procedure The unsuccessful party shall bear the costs of the proceedings. However, the court shall not award costs to the successful party to the extent that they were unnecessarily incurred or disproportionate to the claim. The judgment shall be enforceable notwithstanding any possible appeal. The provision of a security shall not be required. The Regulation abolishes the intermediate measures to enable the recognition and enforcement of a judgement. A judgment shall be recognised and enforced in another Member State automatically and without any possibility of opposing its recognition.

Thank you!