The Internet and EU consumer law:
Issues with distance selling
Belgrade, 29 March 2011
.
• EU law provides consumers with a set of rights. In
order to evaluate if such rights have a practical value,
was created the Consumer Markets Scoreboard.
• The first edition was published on 29 January 2008.
• Actually, the Scoreboard measures the quality of
consumer conditions in EU countries through the
Consumer Conditions Index.
Consumer Conditions Index
• The key components of the consumer conditions
index are:
• the quality of regulation concerning consumers and
businesses,
• the effectiveness of resolving disputes and handling
complaints,
• consumer trust in authorities, retailers, advertisers
and consumer organisation.
Scoreboard data-Consumers
• Last year, 37% of all EU consumers made a distance
purchase on the Internet, and
– 21% used the post (catalogues, mail order, etc.)
and
– 13% made a distance purchase by phone
Scoreboard data-Consumers
Regarding cross-border
The proportion of consumers shopping across
borders within the EU (online/offline) has grown only
very slightly in 2010:
→ 30% of EU consumers made at least one crossborder purchase in the past year, compared with
29% in 2009 and 25% in 2008
Scoreboard data-Consumers
Scoreboard data-Consumers
It shows also an healthy growth of e-commerce in
general, with 40% of EU consumers having ordered
goods and services online (whether from national or
foreign sellers) in 2010 (37% in 2009).
• And, about 4 in 10 (39%) EU consumers were willing
to purchase goods or services using another EU
language;
Scoreboard data-Consumers
However:
• 6 in 10 (59%) of EU consumers agreed that they were
not interested in cross-border shopping because they
were worried about falling victim to scams or frauds
when purchasing products or services in another
country (34% “totally agreed”).
Scoreboard data-Consumers
• The Scoreboard also suggests that consumers' perceptions
appear to be a important barrier to cross-border e-commerce.
Among consumers who have not made a cross-border
distance purchase:
- 62% are worried about fraud and scams;
- 59% are concern about what to do when problems arise;
- 49% are put off by expected delivery problems.
Scoreboard data-Consumers
• Men, 25-39 year-olds, those with the highest level of education and the
self-employed were less likely to agree they were not interested in crossborder shopping because they were worried about:
- falling victim of scams or frauds: for example, 56% of 25-39 year-olds
agreed with this statement, compared to 62% of the over 54 year-olds
- difficulties that could arise in the resolution of complaints: for example,
53% of men agreed with this, compared to 60% of women
- difficulties with the delivery of products purchased abroad: for example,
39% of the self-employed worried about this, compared to 52% of manual
workers.
Scoreboard data-Consumers
• In actual consumer experience, cross-border ecommerce appears to be at least as reliable as
domestic e-commerce:
- the delivery was delayed for 16% of cross-border
purchases
- the product did not arrive in 5% of cross-border
cases
Scoreboard data-Consumers
• A sixth of EU consumers (18%) – who used the
Internet, postal service or phone to buy products or
services from a national seller or provider in the past
12 months – had experienced a delay in the delivery
of their order and 6% said that the product or service
was not delivered at all.
• In 2008, the corresponding proportion for “a delay in
delivery” was eight percentage points higher (26%
vs. 18% in 2006 and 2010).
Scoreboard data-Consumers
• In the last 12 months, about 6 in 10 (61%) EU
consumers felt they had come across unsolicited
commercial advertisements or offers.
• 43% felt that they had seen misleading or deceptive
advertisements or offers.
Scoreboard data-Consumers
• and 29% had seen fraudulent advertisements or
offers.
• The current results are closer to those observed in
2008 when 42% of EU consumers stated that they
had seen misleading or deceptive advertisements
and 27% said the same about fraudulent
advertisements.
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• Almost three-quarters of retailers in the EU used the
traditional method of selling goods or services to
consumers via shops (73%; compared to 75% in
2009)
• A similar proportion said they used at least one
“distance” sales channel; for example, Internet sales
or sales by phone or post (72%; compared to 70% in
2009).
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• The Internet is the most common distance sales
channel: a slim majority of retailers said they sold
goods or services via the Internet (53%; up from 51%
in 2009).
• The use of the telephone as a sales channel was
mentioned by 43% of retailers and mail order (e.g.
selling by “post”) was offered by 29% of retailers;
these results were unchanged compared to 2009.
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• Companies with at least 50 employees, those with
subsidiaries or outlets in another EU country,
companies using distance sales channels and those
prepared to carry out transactions with customers in
more than one EU language were more involved in
cross-border advertising and sales activities
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• One-third of all retailers answered that they would
be interested in making cross-border sales if laws
regulating transactions with consumers were the
same across the EU, and
• 31% of retailers thought their cross-border sales
would increase in a more harmonised regulatory
environment.
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• More than 8 in 10 (82%) of retailers felt they were at
least well informed about legal obligations towards
consumers arising from consumer legislation in force
in their country.
• This figure was practically unchanged compared to
2009; in 2008, on the other hand, a lower proportion
of retailers felt at least well informed about
consumer legislation (77%).
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• Almost 9 in 10 retailers, that sell consumer products,
felt at least well informed about rules and
regulations relating to product safety (86%; +6
percentage points compared to 2009).
• About 8 in 10 (81%) retailers, that sell food products,
felt at least well informed about legislation on food
safety.
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• About a quarter (26%) of retailers knew the exact
period during which consumers have the right to
return a defective product.
• Among retailers that use distance sales channels,
less than 3 in 10 (27%) could correctly state the
length of the “cooling-off” period for distance sales
in their country.
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• In terms of knowledge about prohibited practices, a fifth, or more,
of retailers incorrectly assumed that it was not prohibited in their
country:
– to describe a product as “free” although it is only freely
available to customers calling a premium rate phone number
(21% “incorrect” responses)
– to advertise products at a very low price compared to other
offers without having a reasonable quantity of products for sale
is prohibited in their country (29% “incorrect” responses)
– to include an invoice or a similar document seeking payment in
marketing material (26% “incorrect” responses).
Scoreboard data-Retailers
• About a fifth of retailers had come across fraudulent
advertisements or offers made by competitors in the
past 12 months (21%; practically unchanged
compared to 2009), and
• A quarter had come across misleading or deceptive
advertisements (25%; -3 point compared to 2009).
Among retailers that sell consumer products, 7% said
they were aware that their competitors had
knowingly sold unsafe products in the past 12
months (unchanged compared to 2009).
Sources
• Fifth Edition Scoreboard (2011):
• http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/strategy/facts_en.ht
m#5CMS
• Eurobarometer 2011:
• http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/strategy/docs/consu
mer_eurobarometer_2011_en.pdf
• http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/strategy/docs/retail
ers_eurobarometer_2011_en.pdf
.
Thank you for your attention
Lurdes Cunha