WRITTEN QUESTION E-1849/99

by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 October 1999)

Subject: Misleading advertising in the European Union

Is the Commission aware of the growing incidence of firms writing to elderly people about money to be won in games of chance, which in fact is never paid out? The responses must be accompanied by a test order, which is executed and payment for which is demanded. Many of these letters come from Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria, making recourse to the law difficult.

By what means does the Commission believe these practices might be combated?

A letter in the possession of the questioner proves that the firms concerned operate on a Europe-wide basis. In this case the letter was stamped in the Netherlands, and a Belgian car dealer and a Belgian mail order firm are involved. The addressee is resident in Germany. As a rule, the goods are dispatched from a German supply depot. The German supplier thus has no problem in taking legal action in Germany to obtain the purchase price.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(30 November 1999)

In terms of civil law, the practices denounced by the Honourable Member may come under the rules of Council Directive 84/450/EEC of 10 September 1984 relating to the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning misleading advertising(1). This seems to be the case in this instance, given that the win is announced in sales promotions. This Directive has already been transposed by all Member States, and as a result all national rules in force are applicable. It is interesting to note that in certain Member States the penalty provided for is purely and simply for the consumer to obtain, without any further conditions, the prize of which he has been notified. In terms of criminal law, only national legislation is applicable.

Moreover, it should be noted that in future, following the adoption of Directive 98/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on injunctions for the protection of consumers' interests(2), Member States will have the right to designate the courts or administrative authorities competent to rule on proceedings commenced by independent public bodies specifically responsible for protecting the collective interests of consumers or by organisations whose purpose is to protect the collective interests of consumers, and which seek the cessation or prohibition of any infringement of the Directives listed in the Annex to the Directive, without prejudice to the rules of private international law, with respect to the applicable law. The deadline for transposal of this Directive by Member States is 31 December 2000.

However, consumers wishing to lodge a complaint concerning commercial practices which are believed to be dishonest may contact the International Marketing Supervision Network (IMSN).

The IMSN is an informal network made up of authorities responsible for the application of laws on commercial practices in more than two dozen countries, most of which are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The network's mandate is to distribute information on cross-border commercial activities which may affect consumer interests and to encourage international collaboration between the authorities responsible for law enforcement.

In 1999 the European members of the IMSN (including all Member States) created the subgroup IMSN-Europe, in which the Commission is involved, being represented by the Health and Consumer Protection DG. The IMSN may be contacted via the website http://www.ari.net/imsn, which lists the contact addresses for each Member State.

(1) OJ L 250, 19.9.1984.

(2) OJ L 166, 11.6.1998.