The number of complaints submitted to the European Consumer Centres regarding consumer protection issues in the single market for digital products is numerically lower than expected. This is mainly due to a lack of information among consumers regarding their rights in relation to digital goods and services, insufficient market integration in the EU, and also because, usually, new consumersprefer to "download" programs for free rather than purchase them.
This was pointed out by the director of the European Consumer Centre of Greece, deputy Consumer Ombudsman, Athena Kontogianni, at the recent meeting of the Network of European Consumer Centres in Brussels, of which the European Consumer Centre of Greece is a member, which falls under the Independent Authority "Consumer Ombudsman".
Ms. Kontogianni presented the relevant cases handled by the Center in the last two years for digital goods and services: Cases of geographical incompatibility of game and cases of automatic subscription renewal on websites that provided dating services after the expiration of the relevant contracts.
The main theme of the Summit was the upgraded contribution of the European Consumer Centres to the Digital Single Market Strategy, with the ultimate aim of creating simple, modern and safe rules for the more effective protection of consumer rights. This goal was set, among others, by the Director of the Consumer Directorate of the European Commission, Despina Spanou, for 2015, in the context of the development of an EU Strategy on this issue.
The main objectives are:
– Prevent the creation of “two-speed” consumers, who will have a different degree of protection, based on their accessibility to the digital market for goods and services (online consumers and offline consumers),
– Not to create different rules for digital goods and services and different ones for non-digital ones, so that consumers have uniform protection wherever they buy, whatever form the product they purchase takes.
– Ensure additional protection of the rights of children who purchase or simply “download” digital goods or services online.
It was also emphasized that the lack of uniform legal rules in the member states acts as a deterrent, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises that want to operate in the field or, even more so, leads to a large increase in the cost of products.
Finally, the need to inform consumers about their general rights and to inform them that, even if they "download" some digital data for free, they are in fact providing in exchange their personal data that is used for statistical and marketing purposes was highlighted.
Source: imerisia.gr
