One week of holiday where I allowed myself not to check the internet and I now have quite a few news to catch up with and to report here about.
What caught my attention first was a report on the EU "Sweep" investigation ("sweep" is an enforcement action led by the EU and carried out by national enforcement authorities) conducted as of September 2010 by national authorities of the Member States which checked for breach of EU consumer rules by websites selling tickets for cultural and sporting events (
Buying on the internet: it's now safer for consumers to shop for tickets online following EU action). They were looking for websites that would give incomplete or misleading information to consumers (about the price of tickets, e.g. hidden charges or taxes; the trader, e.g. false claim of being an authorised representative; etc.) as well as for unfair terms and conditions (e.g. refund policy not explained or ticket delivery not guaranteed on time). The goal was to prevent sale of tickets to non-existent events, and make clear e.g. rules on the refund in case the event was cancelled. Owners of such websites were asked to correct the information provided (voluntarily or under penalties). The result of the Sweep is that nowadays 88% of websites (out of 414 websites checked) selling tickets comply with EU consumer laws (in comparison to 40% in 2010).
