YES* *NO

1. Law Enforcement in the EUTamás Molnár The European CommissionDirectorate General for Health and Consumerstamas.molnar@ec.europa.euODR ConferenceVienna. / 29-30 March 2010

2. YES* *NO

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

4. 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

5. The last decade is a success story in the EU – Dispute Resolution • Individual complaints/claims • European Consumer Centres (60.000+ cases/year) • ADR Recommendations / Hundreds of schemes • 500.000 ADR cases in 2008 (+25% over 2006) • European Small Claims procedure • Collective Redress • Currently evaluated

6. CPC Enforcement cooperation • To defend the collective interest of consumers (no redress/individual) • Only cross border practices • Network of national enforcement authorities (300) • 1.500 participants • 30 countries

7. 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)

9. 2009 SWEEP on electronic goods • 28 CPC members participated in the 1st 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

10. 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%)

11. European Consumer Centres Network

12. 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 • 60.000 + contacts with consumers a year • Average claim: 560 Euro • BUT only 1% goes to ADR systems • Information / Language / Cost / Compliance by business

13. Regulation 861/2007 - 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.

14. Regulation 861/2007 - 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.

15. Thank you!