Dr. Georg RathwallnerConsumer ProtectionChamber of Labor Upper

Austria

2

I come from Upper Austria, a region with about 1.4 Mio inhabitants.The consumer protection center in Linz received 94.600 enquiries and complaints last year, most of them by phone or e-mail. The most important communication channel is our website www.ooe.konsumentenschutz.at with more than 2 million visits last year.

The Austrian consumers in the single market

3

Most of the enquiries and complaints concern Austrian companies.Only about 3 % refer to single market questions.We try to resolve trans border complaints too, sometimes in cooperation with the European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Vienna orour NEPIM Partners in Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Germany or our friends of the Financial Services Ombudsman Network in UK and Ireland.

Cross border complaints

4

5

81 % of Austrian households are equipped with an internet access

54 % of persons aged 16 to 74 are internet-

shoppers

Amazon is the nr. 1

Cross border-shopping in most cases via Internet

6

clothing and sports articles

flights and other travel arrangements

books, e-books and

tickets for events

The most popular product groups for Internet-shoppers

7

Discrimination in access to services

Denied Air Passenger Rights

Fraud in cross-border commerce

Problems in the Single Market

8

Austrian consumers are confronted

with a refusal to supply

or higher prices

on the grounds of their nationality or place of residence

when attempting to access services at a cross-border level.

Such practices are prohibited by the EU Services Directive!

Discrimination in access to services and goods

9

Consumers are most frequently confronted with price differentiation when trying to purchase .

goods such as electronic items, clothes and digital downloads (74 %)

tourism and leisure services (21 %) and in

car rental services (5 %)

Discrimination in access to services and goods

10

Example 1Two families resident in Italy booked a stay in an Italian hotel via an Austrian tour operator. Upon arrival at the hotel, the families were asked to pay an additional fee of € 400. When queried, the hotel and tour operator informed the consumers that Italians are obliged to pay an additional fee for a club card enabling them to use the hotel’s amenities. After intervention by ECC Austria the tour operator refunded the additional fee of € 400

Discrimination in access to services and goods

11

Example 2Austrian consumers booked a ferry trip from Venice to Patras with the company Minoan Lines. Due to economic reasons the route was cancelled. Minoan Lines offered a refund of the ticket costs of € 800,--. However, the consumers did not receive the promised refund. Due to the intervention of ECC Austria and ECC Greece the consumers were reimbursed

Discrimination in access to services and goods

12

Denied boarding, flight cancellation, delayed flights

Since 2005 passengers have rights of compensation up to 600 € (EC Regulation 261/2004)

But some airlines deny this right of compensation: Condor, Vueling, Ryan Air, Air Berlin

Denied Air Passenger Rights

13

no answer from airline

refer to extra ordinary circumstances

delaying tactics until the claim barred by the statute of limitation

Denied Air Passenger Rights

14

consumer receive scams involving:

purchase of used cars online

counterfeit products

alleged free trials

the sale of tickets online and

data phishing

Fraud in cross-border commerce

15

Many complaints concerning online-ticketsconsumers must pay the tickets in advance, which should only be delivered a few weeks or days before the concert.De facto, however, a delivery never took place. The companies over which the tickets were bought, also do not respond to requests for reimbursement of affected consumers.There is a suspicion of fraud in these cases, the chances to get the ticket costs refunded is rather low. Consumers only option is the place a complaint at the police.

Fraud in cross-border commerce

16

Thank you for your attention!

Chamber of Labor Upper AustriaVolksgartenstraße 40, 4020 Linz

ooe.konsumentenschutz.at

Kontakt

+43 (0)732 6906-TELFAX

E-MAILWWW

+43 (0)730 6906-

17

Dr. Georg Rathwallner

konsumentenschutz@akooe.at

3112

3880

Consumer Protection