Issue no. 384 - 24 February 2008

• UK - Text scams warning to youngsters (BBC)
  Thousands of young people have been sent fake scam text messages by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to warn them about con-artists. The campaign saw 25,000 mobile phone users aged between 18 and 24 receive a message telling them they might have won £1,000 in cash. But a second message arrived soon after informing them that the message was a fake and warning them about scams.

Issue no. 382 - 6 January 2008

• EU - New rules crackdown on misleading advertising and aggressive sales practices (RAPID)
  Just two weeks before Christmas, sweeping new EU rules to crackdown on misleading advertising and aggressive selling practices - including a ban on fake "free" offers and a ban on "pester power" advertising (direct exhortation) to children on the Internet - will come into force across the EU (December 12 2007). These restrictions are part of an extensive black list of schemes which are banned by the new Unfair Commercial Practices (UCP) Directive - targeting in particular a "dirty dozen" of the some of the most abusive practices, from bait advertising, to pyramid schemes, advertorials and false curative health claims which are used against consumers. To date only 14 Member States have implemented the directive. The Commission has launched proceedings against Member States that have not yet adopted any national rules.

Issue no. 381 - 8 December 2007

• EU - Airline websites 'are misleading' (BBC)
  At least 200 European airline websites are misleading the consumer, a study by the European Commission has found. Websites are failing to show taxes and charges, and refusing to advertise the lowest fare prominently, according to the report. The Commission has refused to name any airlines involved in order to give them time to improve their service. see also Consumers: EU crackdown on misleading airline ticket websites (RAPID). See also EU investigates airline ticket selling websites. Questions and answers and Press conference speaking points by Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection.

Issue no. 380 - 30 September 2007

• EU - Consumer guarantee law may extend to software (OUT-LAW News)
  Buying software or other digital goods as a consumer does not entitle an individual to the same rights under EU law that he or she enjoys when buying tangible products. But that could change following a European Parliament Resolution that endorsed a Green Paper on EU consumer laws .

Issue no. 379 - 2 September 2007

• UK - C4 phone line move to cost it £3m (FT)
  Channel 4 has responded to a spate of scandals over premium rate phone lines by announcing that it would no longer seek to make a profit from them - a decision that will deal a huge financial blow to the broadcaster. In a statement, Channel 4 said the move was an attempt to regain the trust of its audience and played down the financial impact, saying that it would cost the company only £3m in the current financial year. In fact, in the last full financial year, PRTS contributed "more than £10m" to overall pre-tax profits of £21.3m.

Issue no. 378 - 5 August 2007

• OECD - Recommendation on Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress (OECD)
  OECD countries have agreed a new approach to better protect the rights of consumers and make online shopping safer. They call on national authorities and business to make it easier, cheaper and quicker for people to resolve complaints and get compensation when they are unhappy with goods or services they have bought. The OECD Recommendation on Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress offers a roadmap for consumer protection agencies to address the practical and legal obstacles that many consumers face when trying to exchange goods or get their money back from firms, in their own country or abroad.

• UK - Britons misled over broadband speeds, says Which? (Guardian)
  There is a huge gap between the broadband speeds providers are advertising and those that users are able to achieve at home, research by Which? showed. Which? claims that while many companies advertise speeds of up to 8Mbps (megabits per second) or faster, consumers are achieving an average speed of just 2.7Mbps, while some have experienced speeds as low as 0.09Mbps.

Issue no. 372 - 25 February 2007

• EU - European Commission will overhaul consumer law to boost e-commerce (OUT-LAW News)
  The European Commission will overhaul European contract law to make internet selling easier, more reliable and more efficient. The Commission has opened consultation on proposed changes that will affect eight EU Directives. The Commission will review all consumer contract law, which will involve a review of eight Directives. They are: the Unfair Contract Terms Directive and the Directive on Sale of Consumer Goods and Guarantees; the Distance Selling Directive; the Doorstep Selling Directive; the Package Travel Directive; the Timeshare Directive; the Directive on Injunctions; and the Price Indication Directive. See The consultation.

• Internet law professor looks at the fine print in Windows Vista (BBC)
  Vista, the latest version of Microsoft Windows has made its long awaited consumer debut. While reviews have focused chiefly on new functions, for the past few months the legal and technical communities have dug into Vista's "fine print". Those communities have raised red flags about Vista's legal terms and conditions as well as the technical limitations built in to the software at the insistence of the motion picture industry.

• UK - Warning over online dating scams (BBC)
  People using online dating agencies are being warned to look out for fraudsters who want to steal their money. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), as part of its scams awareness month, says dating frauds are becoming more common. The criminals create attractive online profiles for themselves, designed to attract a particular victim. They then use bogus sob stories to lure them into handing over personal information, such as their address and bank account details.

• US - Sony CD row compensation agreed (BBC)
  Record label Sony BMG is to reimburse consumers up to $150 for damage to computers caused by CDs with hidden anti-piracy software. The Federal Trade Commission said the anti-piracy software wrongly limited the devices on which music could be played to those made by Sony or Microsoft. About seven million of the CDs were sold and the Digital Rights Management software installed itself on consumers' computers without their knowledge or consent.

Issue no. 371 - 28 January 2007

• EU - European network will target email and internet scams (out-law.com)
  Email, phone, prize draw and web shopping scams are being targeted by a new coalition of European consumer groups for the first time. The bulk of the Consumer Protection Co-Operation (CPC) Regulation came into force across Europe on 29th December. Designed to tackle cross-border schemes to defraud consumers, the CPC Regulation focuses on some emerging scams, such as those using email and phone calls to mislead consumers.

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