Is Consumer Protection finally getting teeth? EU Commission targets web stores and shopping apps

With the statement "Consumer authorities will finally get teeth to punish the cheaters," former Commissioner for Justice, Consumer Protection and Gender Equality, Vera Jourová, announced the redesigned framework in consumer protection through Directive 2019/2161/EU (known primarily as the "Omnibus Directive").

And as is the case with the GDPR violations, the sanctions envisaged, which are based on a company's annual global turnover, are indeed quite respectable, if not impressive. The prohibited violation of certain consumer interests can incur costs of up to 4% of the annual turnover.

Now the European Commission, together with national consumer protection authorities from 23 member states plus Norway and Iceland, presented the results of a Union-wide review of retail websites and shopping apps.

The review focused on three specific types of manipulative practices (so-called "dark patterns") designed to encourage consumers to take actions that are not in their real interest. These included the hiding of information relevant to decision-making, fake countdowns, and websites whose design was intended to pressure consumers into concluding purchase contracts and subscriptions.

The results are disappointing:
The acting Commissioner for Justice said that of the nearly 400 online stores checked, almost 40% had used manipulative practices to exploit consumers' weaknesses. It would now be up to the national authorities to exert influence on the retailers and take further measures if necessary.

The coordinated review of store providers is a so-called "sweep" to verify compliance with EU consumer protection law. Enforcing the correction request is now the second step, non-compliance with which may entail such a severe fine in the constellations described.
In her statement at the time, Vera Jourová said that cheaters should not get off lightly. Thus, it therefore remains to be seen with some excitement whether the first fines in the millions will now follow that will certainly make it into the headlines.

Daniel Trunk

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