BELGIUM: EU airline websites told to improve or be closed down

The European Union's consumer chief said on Wednesday (November 14) the results of their investigation into airlines' websites, known as a "consumer sweep", focused on unfair pricing, hidden charges and terms and conditions not translated properly. Meglena Kuneva gave airlines such as Ryanair and the owners of the other travel Web sites four months to 'get their act together' or face the possible closure of their sites. The order followed the publication of results from an investigation by Brussels into misleading advertising and unfair practices on airline ticket selling Web sites across the 27-member bloc and Norway. Kuneva said the commission was on the war path to protect consumers. "As a consumer commissioner the results are very disappointing: across Europe, consumers are being let down," Kuneva said. Legislation to protect consumers is in place. Unfortunately, she said, companies throughout the EU-bloc are flouting it. "Over 50 percent of sites checked seemed to mislead consumers is one that we can't tolerate for long. Definitely I will not do it. It is time for those who are cutting corners to raise their game. For that reason I have agreed with member states' authorities a four month deadline for compromise to respond. Today I am sending a clear warning to all the companies concerned. Take swift action now," she said. Kuneva meant that the offending companies identified in their investigation had four months to reply or correct their websites. But, in order to give them their full right of reply and because legislation on how to sanction guilty companies varies from country to country, none of the offending companies would be named. Kuneva said she would 'name and shame' those companies that had not changed their websites in that time. Last month, Spain's consumer rights watchdog said it had found misleading information in seven out of 12 airline ticket Web sites including Ryanair. A Commission source told Reuters Europe's biggest low-cost airline "was on the radar". The Spanish authorities also found faults with Spanish carriers Vueling, Iberia and Spainair. The EU's executive European Commission said possible sanctions included "imposing and collecting fines or closing down Web sites". "Some countries, like for example Spain and France on the basis of this legislation there are websites which are already closed," Kuneva said. Web sites are critical for the EU airline travel industry, which Commission figures show caters for over 700 million passengers per year. Ryanair's head of communications, Peter Sherrard, said in a statement on Tuesday (November 13) that Ryanair has not been contacted by the EU Commission as part of the investigation but would welcome any proposals by the Commission to force Europe's high fare airlines to match Ryanair's fares. The probe was carried out in 15 EU states and Norway and took place from Sept. 24 to Sept. 28. Of the 446 Web sites investigated, 226 "were flagged as in some way not respecting consumer protection law", the report said. Belgium had the worst number of incidents, with 46 of 48 Web sites investigated found to be at fault. Of the 20 Web sites probed in Austria, none was found to break EU consumer rules.

ITN Source | November 15, 2007

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