• UOKiK organised an ICPEN workshop session on good practices in Riga, Estonia
• UOKiK: leader and initiator of a new ICPEN project “Consumer Protection Online – Finance of the future, services and scams”

The UOKiK delegation participated in the ICPEN Best Practices Workshop (BPW) held on 6-7 December. The hosts of the event were the Australian Presidency - Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Latvian Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC). For the second time, the workshops took on a hybrid form – on-site in Riga and online via zoom, and were participated by more than 170 people.

UOKiK organised and hosted one session titled “Consumer Protection Online – Finance of the future, services and scams” on 7 December.

The session was devoted to regulations concerning online financial services and protecting consumers against dishonest financial practices/scams. It included lectures by experts in the field from UOKiK, ACCC, and the invited speaker Anrijs Smits from the Finance Latvia Association who discussed frauds resulting in damage to consumers and emerging risks in the Latvian financial sector.

Next was the practical part where participants analysed and discussed two case studies: one prepared by ACCC concerning scams and the second one prepared by UOKiK concerning unauthorised online transactions. Participants had the chance to discuss these cases and learn about the attitudes of consumer protection bodies throughout the world. The case study presented by UOKiK concerned a transaction which the consumer deemed unauthorised because they were not aware that the software allowing a third party to access the consumer’s desktop remotely was working. One key issue was obtaining information whether in this type of situation, a transaction would be deemed unauthorised or if the bank will be unable to refund the money to the consumer citing negligence on their part.

The goal of the session was to build up the abilities of ICPEN members to identify and take action in the scope of enforcing binding law and others (e.g. exchange of information, interference, and awareness-raising initiatives) concerning financial fraud on the Internet and online payment services.

The Best Practices Workshop is an extremely important part of the ICPEN event schedule. It usually is a two-day event aimed at law enforcement and consumer protection agency employees. Its purpose is to provide practical enforcement sessions concerning current topics in the scope of consumer protection, cross-border issues, and competences in the scope of international cooperation.

The new UOKiK project titled “Consumer Protection Online – Finance of the future, services and scams”

The session of good practices workshop was created under the work group of the new ICPEN project titled “Consumer Protection Online – Finance of the future, services and scams” initiated by UOKiK. Work group activities commenced in September and are led jointly by UOKiK and ACCC Australia. The work group also includes: Latvia, Hungary, and Kenia.

The project is envisaged to last for two years and is comprised of two phases:

Phase 1

Market screening, analysis of the current situation in terms of risks and unfair (financial) practices on Internet markets, creation of a map of risks and unfair practices, particularising and narrowing down the topics to be addressed in the next phase. The result of works in this phase shall be a survey prepared by the group, which was sent out throughout the ICPEN network at the end of November, asking to fill out the questions and sending the answers via the online form by the end of January 2023.

Phase 2

Will be aimed at defining the agreed upon priorities within two work streams, and will commence after completing the survey result analysis, i.e. around February 2023:

• Enforcing and observing the law: strengthening cooperation and information exchange between relevant national bodies in terms of emerging trends, exchange of best practices in terms of enforcing the law.

• Strengthening the position of the consumers: best practices in the scope of information and educational campaigns.