Slew of new protections for consumers

BATTLING with a retailer to get money back for a faulty product or one that was never delivered may soon be a thing of the past if a new EU Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) is made law.

The proposal will be reviewed by both the EU parliament and the council who will then agree on a final text to be voted on. According to Cypriot MEP Kyriakos Triantafyllides they should agree on a final text by the next plenum on June 22 and 23.

Triantafyllides is also a member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), which put forward the proposal.

“The aim was to locate gaps in the protection of consumers and fill them,” said Triantafyllides. The directive also aims to merge together four existing directives on doorstep and distance selling, unfair contract terms, along with sales and guarantees.

The CRD, which guarantees consumer rights, has several key points that benefit consumers such as tackling the problem of delivery and sometimes non-delivery as the case may be.

Triantafyllides states that this is one of the biggest problems for cross-border shopping. Consumers would be protected since if no specific delivery date has been set the product must be delivered within 30 days. If a seller cannot comply with this a consumer has the right to cancel an order and get their money back with seven days.

A seller will also have to properly inform a consumer on their legal rights before they place an order, such as making sure that delivery zones are clear as well as letting a consumer know all costs and fees from the outset.

A 14 day cooling off period will be available too which would give a consumer the right to return a product bought over the phone or internet within 14 days. If a seller omits this information, the cooling off period will be extended to one year.

Triantafyllides stressed that the proposal puts forwards, at EU level, a rule that says that the trader will be responsible for the cost of any deterioration or destruction of a product until it reaches the consumer.

According to Triantafyllides, the proposal has been under discussion for about seven years now as they were intent on “covering every corner of the EU.” “We worked hard on this so we want it to be passed,” he added.

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