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10.01.2012. EU investigates consumer credit websites - a market underperforming for consumers
Brussels, 10 January 2012 - Were you ever about to sign a contract for a personal loan, credit card, or other consumer credit and discovered that it was all working out more expensive than you had first expected? An EU-wide investigation of websites offering consumer credit took place to check whether consumers are receiving the information to which they are entitled under EU consumer law before signing a consumer credit contract. National enforcement authorities checked more than 500 websites across the 27 Member States plus Norway and Iceland. They flagged 70% (393) of sites for further investigation in relation to the following main problems: the advertising did not include the required standard information; the offers omitted key information that is essential for making a decision; the costs were presented in a misleading way. National enforcement authorities will now contact financial institutions and credit intermediaries about suspected irregularities and ask them to clarify or take corrective action. The sweep operation checked in particular how business is applying the Consumer Credit Directive (recently transposed in Member States), which aims to make it easier for consumers to understand and compare credit offers.
EU Consumer Commissioner John Dalli said: "When people look forcredit they sometimes discover that this credit turns out to be more expensive than it had originally appeared, because important information was sometimes unclear or missing. Consumer credit is not always easy to understand, which is why there is European legislation in place to help consumers make informed decisions. It is therefore very important that businesses provide consumers with the correct and necessary information. And it is the role of the Commission to work together with national enforcers to make this happen."
What happens next?read all text
The enforcement phase will now start: in the coming weeks and months business operators will be contacted by the national authorities and asked to provide clarifications or correct their websites. Failure to do so, depending on the national legislation which is applicable, can result in legal action leading to fines or even closure of the websites. The national enforcement authorities are asked to report back to the European Commission by autumn 2012. The Commission will report on the results.
For more information: Sweeps website -
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29.12.2011. The airport: 8 out of 10 passengers won’t even notice the new security charging procedure
On 1st January 2012 a new procedure will be introduced regarding the collection of the charge on the security measures implemented at the airport. All the airlines operating at Riga Airport, with the exception of RYANAIR, have agreed to include the security charge into their air fare, which means that the majority of passengers at the airport will most probably not even notice the difference.read all text
„Security is crucial in aviation and it must be maintained both by the carriers and the airport. An airline may not deliberately disobey the security standards. Therefore the airport will collect the security charge instead of RYANAIR for conducting security checks of the airline’s passengers and their baggage as well as for providing other security-related services,” said Aldis Mūrnieks, member of the board of Riga Airport, inviting RYANAIR passengers to pay due attention to the new procedure.
Those RYANAIR passengers who buy their tickets starting from 1st January 2012 before departure will have to pay the security charge of 7 euros or 4.92 lats. The payment can be made:
• While checking in for the flight at Riga Airport (by bank card);
• At RYANAIR ticket office of Riga Airport (by cash or bank card);
• At the airport services office „Welcome to Riga!” (Arrivals Sector E – by cash or bank card).
Payments will be accepted in lats only. In order to avoid delays the administration of Riga International Airport kindly requests RYANAIR passengers to arrive at the airport for checking in and payment of the security charge at least two and a half hours before departure.
The security charge will not be collected from transit and transfer passengers and the passengers who are under 2 years of age. Those passengers who have bought their air tickets by 31 December 2011 are also released from the security charge. In this case, the passenger at the security check must show the purchase date of the air ticket by presenting to the officer the printout of the ticket booking confirmation received from RYANAIR by e-mail.
The security charge is collected for the passenger, their hold and carry-on baggage security screening, airport security and crisis management (including rescue operations), as well as for aircraft flight safety and civil aviation security supervision provided by the state agency "Civilās aviācijas aģentūra" .
Up to now the security function at Riga International Airport has been financed from the state budget which means that the security services were paid for by all the taxpayers of Latvia, including those who seldom or never travel by air. As the government of Latvia has decided not to finance the security at the airport with the state budget funds starting from the year 2012, the new procedure has been introduced stipulating that the security charge henceforth will be collected only from the departing passengers.
Additional information on the new procedure can be obtained on Riga Airport website: http://ej.uz/drosibas_nodeva -
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Online chat with Commissioner Kuneva on consumer policy
20.10.2009. On 23 October at 15:00, EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva will chat online with consumers from all over the EU.
Join the Commissioner "here for the live chat on 23 October, from 15:00 to 16:30 Central European Time (the link will be active on 23 October).read all text
You will be able to ask the Commissioner questions in any of 14 languages (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Greek, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Finish, Romanian and Bulgarian) and get an answer in the same language.
