Office of Competition and Consumer Protection

Lack of the shop address, lack of information about entrepreneurs or the right to withdraw from the agreement - these are the most common problems faced by the European consumers buying electronic equipment on the Internet. It was already the second time that the Office participated in the International Internet Sweep Day

The possibility to do shopping from home at any time and most of all attractive prices make us buy on the Internet more and more frequently. In 2008, 25% of European Internet users bought electronic equipment via Internet (Eurostat, 2009). Also Polish consumers more and more often choose this form of shopping. Unfortunately, virtual shopping does not always bring real benefits. Last year, due to problems related to shopping outside business premises and distance shopping more than 15 thousand complaints were submitted to consumer ombudsmen. Since 2007, the European Commission has been organising International Internet Sweep Days choosing a sector and determining conditions of the search - so far they have examined i.a. airlines.

This year the European Commission decided to examine methods applied by online shops selling audio/video devices and household appliances. Within this common action, Member States examined 369 online shops offering electronic equipment. As a result of the action, it was revealed that 55% of the inspected websites contained irregularities. The most common problem identified on 131 websites included misleading information for Internet users concerning their rights - in particular the possibility of withdrawing from the agreement within 10 days. On 93 websites the following information was found missing: total price that the consumer had to pay for buying audio/video devices and household appliances online - in particular there was no information on the delivery costs or the prices provided did not include taxes. Moreover, inspectors paid attention to the lack of information or incomplete information on the entrepreneur, such as the name, postal address or e-mail address. This kind of irregularities were identified on 65 of the examined websites.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection participated in the action for the second time. The result of the inspection carried out in Poland by UOKiK were 10 swept websites offering electronic equipment. Explanatory proceedings are planned against six of them. Due to the suspicion of cross-border practice in two shops, the Polish Office asked France and Germany for taking actions. As part of this edition, the information on the following websites was verified:

• www.morele.net
• www.3kropki.pl
• www.e-cyfrowe.pl
• www.emarket.pl
• www.1klik.pl
• www.pixmania.com/pl
• www.esc.pl
• www.magafoto.cz
• www.eukasa.pl
• www.notebooki.pl

Entrepreneurs at which there were identified problems will be asked to provide explanations on the practices applied. In some cases, the undertaken legal actions may lead to imposing of fines on those entities which have performed fraudulent actions. The final actions applied by the Office will be presented in mid-2010. Moreover, UOKiK reminds that a consumer shopping online is entitled to the return of goods purchased within 10 days from the delivery date, and in case of purchasing a service - 10 days from the day of conclusion of the contract. If a shop’s website does not provide the following information:

• name and seat of the shop,
• costs, date and way of delivery,
• price including duties and taxes,
• form of payment, - right to withdraw from the contract within 10 days,
• place and method of filing complaints, then the period of returning the purchased product or service is 3 months. What is more, the seller can not demand any payment for withdrawing from the contract (compensation) - such demand is illegal.

If any legal problems occur, consumers can obtain support from the local consumer ombudsmen or non-governmental organisations - Consumer Federation. Free of charge advice can also be obtained at tel. 0 800 800 008.

Additional information:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Tel. (+48 22) 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
faks (+48 22) 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]