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Chapter 28 Consumer Protection 16 May 2011

Chapter 28 Consumer Protection 16 May 2011. Consumer Protection EU Acquis implemented since 1995 - Overview of main EU Acts under the supervision of the Consumer Agency. Consumer Rights :

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Chapter 28 Consumer Protection 16 May 2011

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  1. Chapter 28 Consumer Protection 16 May 2011

  2. Consumer Protection EU Acquis implemented since 1995 - Overview of main EU Acts under the supervision of the Consumer Agency Consumer Rights: 84/450/EC, 85/577/EC, 87/102/EC cf. 2008/48/EC, 94/47 cf. 2008/122/EC, 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC cf. 2009/22/EC, 2000/31/EC, 2005/29/EC, C Reg 2006/2004/EC Safety: 85/374/EC, 87/357/EC cf. 2009/48/EC, 88/378/EC, 89/106/EC, 92/75/EC, 98/34/EC, 1999/93/EC, 2001/95/EC, 2004/108/EC, 2005/31/EC, 2005/32/EC 1999/93/EC, 2006/95/EC, 92/75/EC, 765/2008/EC Metrology: 76/211/EC, 80/171/EC, 90384/EC, 2004/22/EC, 2007/45/EC

  3. Consumer Protection Institutional Aspects Consumer Agency:

  4. Consumer Protection Institutional Aspects Neytendastofa – the Consumer Agency • Act No 62/2005 • on the Consumer Agency and the consumer spokesman • Ministry of the Interior • Role of the Consumer Agency: • Enforcement, supervision and policy making • Number of staff members 20 in 18,5 man yrs • Administration: 4,5 • Metrology: 4,5 • Consumer Rights: 6 • Product safety: 3,5

  5. Consumer Protection Institutional Aspects - continued • Consumer Spokesman: Single person appointed to safeguard “consumers interests” – no role in enforcement • Consumer Association of Iceland: • NGO – but also has administrative tasks publicly funded such as: • ECC • Advice to consumers on legal rights and access to ADRs - service agreement with Ministry of the Interior

  6. GeneralProductSafety Directive 2001/95 Act No 134/1995, on product safety and official market control, Is the national transposition of the GPSD The Consumer Agency is the contact point for RAPEX (Community Rapid Information System) Regulation No 408/1994, on safety of toys and dangerous imitations is the national implementation of Directive 88/378/EU (toys) and 87/357/EU on dangerous imitations The new Toys Directive will be implemented with legislation (not Regulation) – Proposal to Parliament in 2011 or 2012.

  7. REPEX notifications and reactions from Iceland

  8. Number of notifications on electrical goods in 2010 Visual inspection Documents National notifications EEA Notifications

  9. Notifications and reactions from Iceland General products Construction products Toys PPE consumers Precious metals Electrical goods

  10. Electrical goods A og B inspections 2009 and 2010 LVD Directive 2006/95/EC

  11. Directive 85/374/EEC – liability for defective products • Product liability – transposition of the EU Directive: • Act No 25/1991, on product liability • a. Notion of damage: • The producer is liable for damage caused by a defect in his product. • Damage caused by death, or by personal injuries, damage to, or destruction of, any item of property other than the defective product itself provided that the defective product itself is of type ordinarily intended for private use or consumption. • b. Threshold for damages covered: • 70 million euro • c. Exclusion of damages arising from nuclear accidents.

  12. Sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees EU Directive 1999/44/EU Act No 48/2003, on Sale of Goods to Consumers is the national legislation implementing Directive 1999/44/EU: √ Conformity to the contract (and lack of conformity), √ repairs and remedies √ time limits: 2 years, in Iceland a special time limit √ 5 years, in case of goods that have extensive durability √ Redress committee: opinions (non-binding) on disputes in retail Consumer Agency is the secretariat Cases: 2006: 8 cases - 2010: 171 cases

  13. Consumer Protection Institutional Aspects – Consumer Agency continued

  14. Doorstep and Distance sales EU Directive 85/577 and 97/7/EU • Act No. 46/2000, on door-to-door sales and distance contracts • Implementation of the EU Directives on doorstep and distance selling: • ■ Information obligation of the seller – Art 5-7 • ■ Consumer right of withdrawal – Art 8-10 • ■Performance of the contract & delivery – Art 11 • ■ Payment with cards- Art 12 • ■ Aggressive sales methods- Art 13 • ■ Restrictions on use of certain communications methods - Art 14 • ■ Consumer protection – Art 15 • ■ Choice of law – Art 16 • ■ Surveillance and supervision – Art 17

  15. Distance marketing of consumer financial services Directive 2002/65/EU Act No 33/2005 on distance selling of financial services: • Information obligations • Right to withdrawal • Supervision and surveillance: Under the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA): no cases or use of this Act as of this date

  16. Injunctions Directive 98/27/EU cf. 2009/22/EU Act No 141/2001, on injunctions and court proceedings in order to protect consumers general interests, as amend by Act No 141/2001 Advertisment No 456/2006 on designation of public authorities and organizations that are entitled to bring injunctions case to the courts in order to protect the general interest of consumers. Proposal to Parliament to change the law, cf. Directive 2009/22/EU is underway; possbily in 2011.

  17. Consumer credit Directive 87/102/EU cf. 2008/48/EU Act No 121/1994, on consumer credit Regulation 377/1993, as amended 491/1993 and 236/2000 Total revision of the current legislation is underway in order to implement the new Directive 2008/48/EU. New legislation adopted possibly 2011 or 2012

  18. Misleading and comparative advertising Directive 2005/29/EU Act No. 57/2005 on the surveillance of commercial practices and marketing, as amended by Acts No. 34/2007, 57/2007 and 50/2008, Misleading advertising – Art 6 and 7 Comparative advertising – Art 15 Transposition of EU Directive provisions.

  19. Unfair commercial practices Directive 2005/29 Act No. 57/2005 on the surveillance of commercial practices and marketing, as amended by Acts No. 34/2007, 57/2007 and 50/2008 Unfair commercial practices – Art 5-13 Transposition of EU provisions on unfair commercial practices, cf. Directive 2005/29/EU

  20. Consumer rights Unfair commercial practices & lex specialis

  21. Unfair terms in consumer contracts Directive 93/13/EU Contract Law No 7/1936, as amended: Art 36.a: Implements Art 2, 3(1)-(3) of the Directive, i.e standard contracts unfair if contrary to good faith or imbalance in obligations and sellers burden of proof that it is not a standard contract Art 36. b: Implements Art 4(2), 5 of the Directive, i.e. Terms must always be drafted in plain, intelligible language and where there is doubt the most favourable interpretation to the consumer shall prevail (except when agencies safeguarding consumer interest apply this legislation) Art 36. c: Implements Art 3(1) Art 4 (1) and 6(1) of the Directive, i.e. assessment of unfairness Art. 36. d : Implements Art 6(2) of the Directive, i.e. regarding choice of law Article 7 of the Directive is not implemented, since Act No 8/1993 has been repealed and the Consumer Agency has no legal powers to monitor contracts – Plans to remedy this by amending Act No 57/2005 entrusting the Consumer Agency to monitor contracts and ensure effective means to prevent continued use of unfair terms – proposal possibly 2011 or 2012

  22. Price indications Directive 98/6/EEC and Directive 2005/29/EU Act No 57/2005, as amended: Chapter VIII Surveillance of market transparency. Regulation No 366/2008,on indication of prices and the price relevant information – REVISION before 1 June 2011 Regulation No 184/2000,– REVSION before 1 June 2011on unit of prices Also regulations on following issues: Regulation No 366/2008,on sale and other methods of selling goods on discount Regulation No 385/2007, on price marking of automobile fuels Regulation No 384/2007, on seperate price indication of medicines sold against prescribtion Regulation No 383/2007, on price information of dental services

  23. Timeshare EU Directive 94/47/EU cf. 2008/122/EU Act No 23/1997, on timeshare contracts in holiday homes: Implementation of EU Directive provisions Total revision underway: Implementation of EU Directive 2008/122/EU, proposal to Parliament possibly in 2011 or 2012

  24. Package travel Directive 84/450/EU and 90/314/EU Act No 80/1994, on package travel Regulation 156/1995, on package travel Transposition of relevant EU Provisions into national legislation.   

  25. Consumer protection cooperation Council Regulation 2006/2004/EU Act No 56/2007 on the cooperation of consumer protection authorities within the EEA Regulation No 444/2009, on the implementation of decisions of the Commission regarding the cooperation of authorities responsible for the enforcement of the legislation on mutual assistance of authorities 

  26. Out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes - ADRs Various ADR bodies exist in Iceland: (http://www.neytendastofa.is/lisalib/getfile.aspx?itemid=1734) (last updated in 2008) In the above document information is found on: 5 ADR bodies that referred to in the legislation (sale of consumer goods, telecomunications, services of lawyers, rental agreements, apartment buildings) 6 ADR bodies that are optional schemes to economic operators in that field of service (insurance, banks, travel, craftsmen, dry-clean servives, dental services)

  27. Limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields Directive 2004/108/EC, relating to electromagnetic compatibility Regulation No 270/2008, on electromagnetic compatibility. (http://www.reglugerd.is/interpro/dkm/WebGuard.nsf/key2/270-2008) Implements the EU Directive 2004/108/EC. In Annex VI of the Regulation is published the list of standards referred to and published in the OJ. Competent MSA is the Consumer Agency.

  28. Limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields – continued EU: • 1999/519/EC: Council Recommendation of 12 July 1999 on the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 Hz to 300 GHz). ICELAND • According to paragraph 1 of section 4 of Act No 44/ 2002 on Radiation protection (Unofficial English translation: http://www.gr.is/media/stofnunin/law2002English.pdf), the Icelandic Radiation Safety Authority (IRSA) must implement safety measures against radiation from any radiological equipment. The Institute is under the auspices of the Minister of Welfare. Its role is to implement safety measures against ionizing radiation from radioactive substances and radiological equipment. The definition of radiological equipment includes non-ionizing radiation, such as sun beds, mobile phones, high-voltage lines etc. Specific Governmental Regulations enforced by IRSA exist for the use of lasers and sun beds, but not for electromagnetic fields. However, IRSA uses the ICNIRP’s 1998 reference values as basis for the safe use of electromagnetic fields. These limits are the same as in the EU 1999 recommendation. • IRSA has the administrative and technical capacity to fulfill the requirements of the acquis on electromagnetic fields. IRSA has equipment and expertise to measure fields from 1 Hz to 5 GHz. One of the technical experts at IRSA is assigned the task of monitoring public exposure of electromagnetic fields.

  29. Prevention of injuryandpromotion of safety EC: • 07/C164: Council Recommendation of 31 May 2007 on the prevention of injury and the promotion of safety. ICELAND • No legislative or regulatory provisions in force. There are however administrative provisions adopted in accordance with Medical Directorate of Health Act No. 41/2007 (with amendments) and on Directorate of Health and Act on Traffic No. 50/1987.

  30. Thank you for your attention!

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