PRESS RELEASE

CONSUMER PROTECTION ANTITRUST-EU PROJECT ONGOING IN SCHOOLS DURING LESSONS

Product not delivered; failure to repay the price paid when ordering online faced with non-delivery of the goods ordered; non-recognition of the right of withdrawal and the guarantee; lack of conformity between the specifications indicated on the website and the product that is received. These are among the main problems that emerge in the purchases made by Italians on the internet and that the Antitrust Authority must face in the case of abuse and unfair commercial practices that are reported by the growing number of e-buyers.

For this reason, in order to better inform all citizens about the new safeguards that can be accessed through European regulations, the External Relations Department of the Italian Competition Authority, in collaboration with the EU Commission and the Ministry of Education, has launched an awareness campaign on these issues in Italian high schools. There are lessons planned in the territory of the institutions, where there are shown guarantees, specific situations to be taken into account and ways how to report abuse.

With regards to e-commerce, thanks to practical experience, tips are provided to avoid problems from the checks on the characteristics of the website where the purchases are made, which must always take some peculiarities into account: the authenticity of the blog information in the case of tourist services, the method of payment (preferably to be made at the time of shipment of the goods and not before), the existence or otherwise of seller references online and the real possibility of exercising rights of withdrawal and guarantee.

The campaign, illustrated in some informative slides and summarised in an advert aired on Rai, both available on www.agcm.it/stampa/progetto-scuola.html, and focused on a set of guidelines developed to inform and better protect all consumers, starting from the younger ones, that use smartphones and mobile devices to browse and buy products and services.

This sums up the news and highlights of the new European regulation, in force since summer 2014, always at the heart of the meetings that the Antitrust is holding: stop the hidden charges and fees on the internet; greater price transparency; prohibition of pre-selected boxes on the websites; more days (14) to change one’s mind about the purchases made online; more rights for repayment, extended to 14 days from the time of withdrawal; introduction of a standard withdrawal form for all the EU; elimination of surcharges for the use of credit cards and telephone support services; clearer information about who bears the cost of returning the goods.

The first lessons of the project were successfully held in some schools in Rome, Naples and Palermo, which have already been attended by hundreds of students.  The series of meetings will continue in the schools of Bari, Florence, Bologna, Turin, Milan, Vicenza, Trento and Cagliari.

The Ministry of Education, finally, will ship all material to the Consumer Rights Campaign, which will arrive in 5 000 second grade secondary schools (of which 2 590 in State schools and 2 410 in private schools) reaching around 2.5 million students.

Rome, 24 April 2015