Online safety and "vulnerable" consumers: the new OFCOM's draft codes of practice

The English Office of Communications (OFCOM) has recently released its new draft "Children's safety online" codes of practice in line with the Online Safety Act (OSA) the main act providing for online safety in the UK, which became law in October 2023. 

OFCOM is responsible for enforcing the OSA. Its draft codes of conduct are meant to complement it and to suggest platforms (especially, social media) how to shape a safer environment, with a focus on underage consumers. Accordingly, the guidelines encourage platforms to be stricter in setting up adequate procedures for age-checking, to provide users with the due instruments to report harmful content, to remove it when necessary, and to clarify the systems used to monitor and moderate online content, particularly with respect to young people.

Platforms ought to take measures based on their size, the purpose of their services, and the risk of harm to children. Thus, the Online Safety Act adopts a risk-based approach, similar to the European Digital Services Act (Regulation EU, 2022/2065). The purpose is indeed the same: ensuring that online service providers implement procedures that are able to tackle the threats to online safety while safeguarding users’ privacy rights and freedom of expression. The two acts therefore cover issues such as content moderation, and other generative AI outputs, such as deep fakes. They both show the increasing attention placed by lawmakers on new forms of digital vulnerability, and how to address them.

OFCOM’s choice to enact codes of conduct is in line with the European approach, too; in fact, the EU lawmaker has also emphasized the relevance of codes of conduct and soft laws in shaping a safer digital environment. The draft codes of conduct provide for transparency, placing on platforms the duty to make available to the public their risk-assessment findings, and providing systems to easily report illegal content. 

And the Agency has gone even further. Indeed, it has declared that it could even impose a ban on people under the age of 18 to access platforms that fail to comply with its guidelines. 

However, some questions arise from reading the new OFCOM document. Will the procedures for ascertaining the age of users lead to the collection of an excessive amount of personal data, violating the data minimization principle under the GDPR? Are OFCOM’s codes too restrictive if compared to the DSA, forcing platforms to adopt a “double standard” between users based in the UK, and those that are based in the rest of Europe? Is the Online Safety Act “technologically neutral” enough when differentiating platforms’ obligations on the basis of the content type or the most comprehensive approach adopted by the DSA, based on equal risk mitigation for all the illegal content, is to be preferred?

Despite these concerns, which undoubtedly will be further examined by many scholars and privacy advocates in the coming months, the guidelines seem promising for improving the online safety of English users, especially children. The true test will be their implementation and enforcement.

Does fake equal bad? European Commission thinks so.

Last year we posted about the EU Customs trying to protect consumers from counterfeit goods by strengthening the examination of products entering the EU market etc. (EU helps to keep it real) Now the European Commission published another memo (Too good to be true: the real price of fake products) in which it gives an update on recent data of counterfeit market, as well as calls upon consumers to stop buying such goods. There is a hope that a campaign that would raise consumers awareness about the dangers of counterfeit goods, would deter them from purchasing such products - even if it would have saved them significant money to do so. Despite all the actions taken so far by the EU and national governments, the trade in fake articles grew by 11% between 2010 and 2011. What should scare consumers (or at least make them think twice about buying counterfeit goods) is that almost one third of the articles detained by EU customs in 2011 was found to be potentially dangerous to the health and safety. What other argument is the Commission planning to use? They will try to convince consumers that it is not a bargain to buy a fake product, since the consumer would not get the same quality nor guarantee of durability for less money. Also, even if consumers won't usually think about it, trade in fake goods is likely to lead to the increase of taxes, loss of jobs (in legitimate trade sector that suffers losses), unemployment and higher welfare bills.

Closer EU-US trade partnership? A consumer group outlook

Last February, agreements were made concerning the initiation of talks for a Transatlantic Trade and Investments Partnership, an EU-US agreement which should enhance the trade cooperation between the two partners. 

Since the cooperation is already tight and tariffs already very low, the main objective of the renewed agreement should be to tackle "non-tariff" barriers, namely regulatory hindrances. This means in particular "diverging regulatory systems (standards definitions notably), but also other non-tariff measures, such as those related to certain aspects of security or consumer protection."

This is with no surprise the main point of interest- and possibly concern- for consumer organisations: what kind of convergence can be reached between the two systems in terms of security regulations? Is a race to the bottom to be expected?

A joint EU-US consumer group, the "TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue" (TACD) group, released yesterday a reaction which individuates some fundamental issues which should not be too much affected by the treaty (which, in principle, would cover all subjects not explicitly excluded from negotiations):

- Safe Food;

- Emerging Technologies

- Financial Protections

- (limitations to) Intellectual Property Rights

- Privacy Rights

- Drugs and medical devices

- Energy and Climate Change

- Investor-State Dispute Resolution

- Competition Policy.

From a methodological point of view, the TACD expresses its hope that the negotiation process will be truly open to stakeholders. Will that happen? More moves are to be expected over the summer.

EU & mobile consumers

Have you ever wondered in what ways the European Commission benefited consumers? The recent memo mentions many ways through which the EU consumers are enriched in the mobile data sector. 

EU:

• "Made consumers happy: roaming price caps have delivered €15 billion in savings
• Made the market work more efficiently: forcing mobile “termination rates” to reflect costs has helped retail mobile prices to fall by 31-42% since 2006 and companies to focus on real value-added revenue streams.
• Delivered the standards on which the industry is built: the GSM standard and most of the 3G standards that have enabled a 250 billion a year industry were funded by EU research grants
• Delivered extra spectrum for new industry: 1000Mhz allocated so far, with plans for 1200 Mhz; facilitating spectrum sharing to maximise value of this scarce resource
• More flexibility: with contracts now limited to a maximum length of 24 months, an obligation to offer 12 month contracts, and the right to move your number to a new network with 24 hours' notice, consumers have better choices and companies have a better chance to compete for unhappy customers.
• Higher quality: Consumer contracts must give information about minimum service quality levels, driving up expectations and performance.
• Helped save lives with 112: a single (free) European emergency number, in partnership with the mobile industry, to call from your mobile.
• New funding in 2013 to develop 5G technology: another 50 million euros.
• Privacy protected: whether via new choices on accepting cookies, supporting the Do Not Track standard or reform of the EU’s overall data protection rules, the European Commission supports trust and privacy through informed consent.
• Mobile at the heart of the Digital Agenda: mobile is the future of the internet and the European Commission is its policy champion; mobile is a key factor in every element of the overall Digital Agenda effort from mHealth to Connected TV through to the European Commission’s plans for a Telecoms Single Market"
  
  

Do you agree with these statements? I happened to be teaching a class last week on, among others, roaming and mobile services and none of my students has even heard about 112. Not to mention that the privacy measures that were adopted on a European level are far from providing a harmonised, standardised protection of consumers' data online.

Connect with respect

Yesterday was the 10th Safer Internet Day 2013 and the European Commission presented results of joint commitment of various companies who have been working together for the past few years on safeguarding internet for children's use (currently, the average age for fist going online in Europe is seven). This year these companies decided to set an even higher benchmark for the industry, proposing to set parental and control classification tools on all devices (incl. game consoles, smartphones, etc). (Safer Internet Day 2013: "Connect with Respect")

EU Licence to Drive

As of this week all European consumers that get a new driving license (or exchange the old one) will receive the same plastic "credit card" with a standard EU format. The harmonisation aims to limit driving license fraud and to improve road safety across the EU.

"Traffic police across Europe are currently expected to recognise more than 100 different types of paper and plastic driving licence. ID photos may be long out of date, the categories for which the driver is licenced unclear and the document may be easy to forge. Fake driving licences are a licence to kill, that is why we need licences which are easy to read, easy to understand and very difficult to falsify". (New European Driving Licence)

Driving home for Christmas?

We wrote here before about the plan of the European Commission to increase road safety for European citizens  by widening its scope (to motorcycles etc.) and toughening up the current testing regime (Better safe than sorry...). Unfortunately, yesterday the EU transport ministers agreed to weaken key elements of the Commission's proposal, effectively decreasing its relevance.

"The agreement by ministers today would substantially weaken the proposed new rules, by (a) removing motorcycles and other two-wheelers, the most vulnerable group of road users from the scope of mandatory regular testing; (b) removing proposals for increased frequency of technical checks for older vehicles – the highest risk vehicles on the road; (c) weakening proposed measures to reduce mileage manipulation. 

Ministers have backed measures with regard to two things: strengthened cross-border mutual recognition, and higher quality and harmonisation of testing, with minimum requirements on training, on equipment, on assessing deficiencies, on technical vehicle information and on supervision of testing."

The proposal will now be considered by the European Parliament.

Flying without snakes on board

Do you like watching movies like Snakes on a Plane or Air Force One? Well, the EU wants to limit airplanes' accidents to fictional only. On the 19th of December the European Commission proposed new rules to prevent aircraft accidents. The proposal aims to increase and improve the use of data on occurrences as well as improve the flow of information between the Member States, switching the focus from reaction to prevention. "An occurrence is any type of event significant in the context of aviation safety which might or might not have resulted in an actual accident but which merits being collected and analysed." The text of the proposal will now be discussed by the Parliament and the Council.

Flying safe

In order to guarantee high air travel safety standards, the European Commission  – in consultation with Member States’ aviation safety authorities – has decided to ban airlines found to be unsafe from operating in European airspace and to impose certain restrictions on other airlines. The list is periodically updated in order to ensure that it reflects up-to-date situations.

The updated European air safety list includes all carriers certified in 20 States, accounting for 287 known air carriers, whose operations are fully banned in the European Union: Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon (with the exception of three carriers which operate under restrictions and conditions), Indonesia (with the exception of six carriers), Kazakhstan (with the exception of one carrier which operates under restrictions and conditions), Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mozambique, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Swaziland and Zambia.

The list also includes three individual carriers: Blue Wing Airlines from Surinam, Meridian Airways from Ghana and Conviasa from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Additionally, the list includes 10 air carriers which are subject to operational restrictions and are thus allowed to operate into the EU under strict conditions: Air Astana from Kazakhstan as well as Afrijet, Gabon Airlines and SN2AG from Gabon as mentioned before, Air Koryo from the Democratic People Republic of Korea, Airlift International from Ghana, Air Service Comores, Iran Air, TAAG Angolan Airlines and Air Madagascar.

Big online wolf

One of the most controversial issues regarding the safety of internet users and their privacy online is the protection of children online. While children use internet more and more often ("All young Europeans aged 9 to 16 use a computer to play or do their homework, and half of those between 11 and 16 say they find it easier to express themselves on line than in real life, according to a survey done in the member states.", see: Parliament calls for better protection for children), they may be faced with internet fraud, online violence, pornography, harassment etc.

Yesterday, the European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda - Neelie Kroes - and the US Secretary of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano - signed a Joint Declaration promising to safeguard children in their online endeavours. The promises stretch to organising, annually, joint campaigns on the Safer Internet Day, further combating child sexual abuse online worldwide, working on giving parents and guardians informed choices online as to the content their children are able to access. (EU and US sign joint declaration to make the internet safer for kids) Interestingly, on the same day the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it calls for better protection for children online, arguing for an increase of educational campaigns about digital media, as well as easier and more accessible means to report online abuse.

Healthy week

Last week there have been lots of news regarding European consumers' safety & health. And so:

•  The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published an annual report for 2012 which showed that heroin use (responsible for the largest share of drug-related diseases and deaths) is in decline in Europe and that, in general, patterns of drug use are shifting (to other opioids, like fentanyl, buprenorphine etc. but also cathinones, amphetamines etc.). There is also a decline in reported cases of drug injections. To read more about drug use and related diseases in Europe see here.

• The same report as mentioned above expresses its concerns about the increased European market for powders and pills. European are the most prone to the use of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines, but the synthetic drugs' and stimulants' market is emerging further (e.g. cathinones, methamphetamine). More on this here.

• Health spending in Europe fell in 2010 for the first time in decades as the report 'Health at a glance' of the OECD and the European Commission announces. A summary of the main findings of the report may be found here.

• European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended approval of the first vaccine for bacterial meningitis B, Bexsero which hopefully will decrease the rate of fatal cases of this disease (currently ca 8% of European patients) affecting mostly infants and young children. More information - see here.

• Yesterday, there was the European Antibiotic Awareness Day. You can read key facts on the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) here.

• World Health Organization (WHO) during its Conference of the Parties signed on 12th November a new protocol - on the Elimination of the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. New, effective measures against illicit trading would benefit consumers, since they should safeguard existing norms on controlling the quality of tobacco and its labelling.See more here.

• Last week the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) celebrated its 10 years. More information on the agency may be found here.

Let's be safe

Part of consumer protection laws introduced in Europe deal with product liability and consumer safety. As of 1 November 2012 new set of such consumer safety rules came into force in the EU, concerning motor vehicles safety. (Regulation 661/2009) This is good news at a time when European roads slowly start changing into a slippery deathtrap. All new vehicles undergoing a type-approval as of 1 November (and all new vehicles sold as of 2014 in the EU) will need to:

• include a safety belt reminder at the driver's seat;
• be fitted with at least two ISOFIX child seat anchorage points in the rear seats;
• be fitted with new labels warning against the placement of rearward facing child restraint systems where the seat has an active frontal airbag;
• fulfil strict electric safety requirements if the vehicle is electric;
• strengthen their rear passenger seats to protect people against displacement of luggage in the boot, in case of frontal car crash;
• provide for an on-board tyre pressure monitoring system warning against loss of air pressure in the tyres;
• be fitted with gear shift indicators to achieve better fuel economy. (Cars safer from 1 November 2012)

Maintaining the flavour

The European Commission adopted today two new regulations (No 872/2012 and No 873/2012) concerning the use of flavouring substances in the EU. Various flavouring substances are added to food to improve or alter the taste, odour and other attributes of food. The new regulations aim at increasing the transparency of information about the use of these substances as well as increasing consumers' safety. Only these flavouring substances that are mentioned in the Regulation (over 2100 authorised substances) will be allowed to be used in food the end of 2014 (with an 18 months period of phasing out the use of prohibited substances). The use of flavouring substances is, in general, allowed if it does not endanger consumers' health at the level of the proposed use and if it does not mislead consumers (ethical, environmental etc. factors can also contribute to the assessment). Consumers and industry will be able to easily control whether the used substances are among the authorised ones since an online database will be created. The authorised uses of flavouring substances will be listed according to the category of food to which they may be added. (Enhancing Food Safety: EU adopts list of approved flavouring substances) More on flavourings here.

Colour your hair to feel European

Today the European Commission amended an old Directive 76/768/EEC relating to cosmetic products. The new Directive 2012/21/EU concerns... hair dyeing products.

Did you know that ca 60% of European women and ca 10% of European men colour their hair? It seems that with every year Europeans become more concerned with their looks and the sale of hair dye products increases. Nowadays, it does not take much to go overnight from being a blonde to becoming a redhead, etc., and such decisions are often (sadly) not thoroughly thought through. Sadly, since as any cosmetic products hair dyes may contain unsafe (or even toxic) for consumers substances. On the one hand it may be worth it to invest in keeping consumers' hair healthy and pay for a good hairdresser and a good hair dye. However, how are even professionals to know which of the substances contained in the hair dyes could be dangerous? The EC helps out here by taking into account recent scientific knowledge and restricting the use of 24 substances often included in hair dyes (additionally to already existing bans on the use of certain substances). The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) still needs to assess 45 substances that are suspect of having an adversary effect on consumers. More on hair dye products may be read here.

EU helps to keep it real

"Got a real bargain when I bought this Louis Vuitton wallet for 10 euro". Well, who doesn't like a bargain? Some bargains are too good to be true, though, and it's unlikely that you would get an original product for price that is not anywhere close to the shop price. With certain products a bargain is also not what consumers should be looking for. Spending more money on a product usually guarantees its better quality, its authenticity, which is crucial for the health and safety of consumers when products such as medicines, food etc. are concerned. In order to protect consumers, as well as to protect intellectual property rights, the EU Customs department diligently examines products entering the EU market in order to comply with the EU's 2020 Strategy. In 2011, they detained almost 115 million products suspected of violating IPR (in 2010 that number was just 103 million) valued at 1,3 billion euro. (Report on EU customs enforcement of IPR) Out of these products 24% were medicines, 21% packaging material, 18% cigarettes, products for daily use that could potentially be dangerous to consumers - 28,6%. The main offender is still China (73% of all infringing articles come from there). Fake foodstuff comes usually from Turkey, alcoholic drinks - Panama, soft drinks - Thailand, mobile phones - Hong Kong. (EU customs detain over 100 million fake goods at EU borders)

New EC Video Campaigns

Granny goes roaming:



... and 100.000 lives saved:

Better safe than sorry - on new road safety rules

Did you know that more than 5 people die on Europe's roads every day in accidents caused by a technical failure of a vehicle? Did you know that technical defects are responsible for 6% of all car accidents and 8% of all motorcycle accidents? In order to prevent such tragic outcomes, the EU decided to toughen its rules on vehicle checks. One could say, it's the highest time to introduce new rules, since the current minimum standards for vehicle checks date back to 1977 and don't foresee for inspections of such important mechanisms as, e.g., ABS. That's not what we want to hear when we are heading out for our holidays in our cars and would like to think that the chances of the car that comes towards us from another direction swerving suddenly into our lane are none to slim.

The new proposal of the European Commission introduces compulsory EU wide testing for scooters and motorbikes. It will also demand more frequent periodic checks of road-worthiness for old vehicles, as well as for cars and vans with exceptionally high mileage. The latter ones would have to fulfil the same requirements as taxis or ambulances. Not only the objects of the tests are to change, but also its substance. The EC intends to set minimum standards for deficiencies, equipment and inspectors, as well as make electronic safety components subject to mandatory testing. Finally, the proposal includes provisions that are to limit mileage fraud, with registered mileage readings.

"If you're driving a car which is not fit to be on the road, you're a danger to yourself and to everyone else in your car – your family, your friends, your business colleagues. What's more, you’re a danger to all the other road users around you. It's not complicated; we don't want these potentially lethal cars on our roads." said Vice President of Transport, Siim Kallas (Tougher vehicle testing rules to save lives)

The whole new legislative package is presented in the FAQ format.

If you'd like to read more about EU road safety plan 2011-2020 - see the guidelines and visit the road safety page.

Summer fun

The European Commission posted today also some handy tips as to how to spend a worry-free summer. Read it, if you are going to be travelling this summer and you are not sure what rights you have as a traveller or what to do in case of an emergency. Read it, if you are thinking about getting a timeshare in a property you rented for holiday. Read it, if you still don't know how to limit your telephone bills while you are abroad. Read it, if you want to know how to transport your pet. Finally, read it, if you are concerned as to what food to eat abroad. And then... remember to have some summer fun!

Consumers may report suspected adverse drug effects

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) published yesterday information about the new pharmacovigilance legislation that came into force, after having been adopted in December 2010 (Directive 2010/84/EU and Regulation No. 1235/2010). The goal is to better protect public health in Member States by strengthening the EU system for medicines safety. On the one hand, it will influence consumers just by limiting the number of unnecessary risks that they are exposed to when taking medicines. This will be achieved by increasing control mechanisms over medicines and making them more transparent. The second effect on consumers is more direct, namely as of now patients are supposed to be more involved in the regulatory process. This includes patients being able to directly report suspected adverse drug effects.

"The new pharmacovigilance legislation will help us to make the system more robust for public health and more transparent. It gives regulators a range of new or improved tools to ensure that patients are not exposed to unnecessary risks when taking medicines. It also increases the efficiency of medicines regulation for the benefit of all stakeholders." said Guido Rasi, EMA's Executive Director (New pharmacovigilance legislation comes into operation)

Mandatory eCalls (EU life-saving system)?

Last year we mentioned that the European Commission issued a recommendation to mobile phone operators asking them to transmit eCalls properly (eCalls - towards a European life-saving system). Last week the European Parliament adopted a resolution pursuant to which all new cars should be fitted with eCall devices by 2015. 

An eCall device automatically alerts emergency services about road crashes through the public 112 emergency call system. This is seen as enabling the emergency services to arrive earlier at the scene of an accident, which may diminish the loss of lives and prevent more serious injuries. At the same time, these devices does not enable monitoring of car users' location unless an accident happens, which means that they do not infringe users' right to have their data protected.

Despite the strong support of eCalls in the EU institutions only a small number of cars is fitted with such devices up to now (ca 0,4%). Obviously, the industry does not put priority on deployment of such systems, which led the European Parliament to urge the European Commission to come with an appropriate legislative proposal to make this system mandatory by 2015.

"According to estimates, the eCall system would save up to 2500 lives a year and reduce the severity of injuries by 10 % to 15 %, the resolution states." (MEPs say mandatory emergency eCall system in cars will save lives)