Today, the European Commission outlined a series of actions to tackle aggressive commercial practices across the EU such as fake ‘free’ offers, ‘bait and switch’ advertising for products which cannot be supplied, and exhortation of children. Five years after it entered into force, the Commission reviewed the application of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and announced plans to step up enforcement of the rules to increase citizens’ trust when shopping in Europe’s internal market.
The initiative is part of the Commission’s action to boost consumer confidence under the European Consumer Agenda. By shopping online across EU borders, consumers can benefit from up to 16 times more products from which to choose, but 60% of consumers are still not taking advantage of this. As a result, consumers do not fully benefit from the variety of choice and lower prices available in the Single Market. Improving consumer confidence by better enforcing the rules can provide a major boost to economic growth in Europe. Indeed, surveys show that more consumers are now interested in making cross-border purchases and are willing to spend more money cross-border than in 2006, when the EU rules had not yet come into force. Here to read more.
