ConsumerPro Training Session organised by CAM, in collaboration with BEUC, November 2020

CAM, in collaboration with BEUC, organised a ConsumerPro Training Session on 18 and 19 November 2020

Dr Geraldine Spiteri conducted the Training Sessions. Twenty representatives from CAM, ACR, MCCAA, CAC and ECC participated in the Training Sessions

ACR Members participation included Pauline Azzopardi, Grace Attard, Marie Demicoli and Cynthia Busuttil.

Topics of the Training sessions

• Key Consumer Rights and Obligations
• Main challenges concerning general consumer policy
• Laws and regulations at EU and national level
• Legal and Commercial guarantees
• Unfair Commercial practices
• Relevant Case Law
• EU law and National Law
• The Right of Withdrawal (or cancellation)
• Price Indication
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
• Collective Redress

Discussion on role-play: Case Studies

1. Air-Purifier Machine
2. Laptop 2 year guarantee, damage after 1 year – buyer needs it urgently

Issues addressed by ACR:

• Insufficient information about the legal guarantee
• Lack of accessibility or transparency of conditions of the commercial guarantee
• Guarantees did not specify which part/parts are referred to and the time-frames of the guarantees
• No clear indication of pre-contractual information and the right of withdrawal

Price indication: Checking the prices of goods sold or offered for sale to consumers:

• Both original and sale price should be clearly and unambiguously displaced:
• Clear display of price lists including in shop windows
• Prices of goods displayed with relevant weight (kg or litres) or packet size
• Protection of consumers when effecting an online or off premises purchase including the clear indication of pre-contractual information and the right of withdrawal;
• Ensuring clear and fair adverts that do not contain misleading information.

When we were discussing a case study, involving a contract by an internet service provider, Cynthia Busuttil, ACR Executive Committee Member objected to the jargon used by the company who expects their customers to sign such contracts, relying only on the salesperson to explain any difficulties.

She claimed that such contracts should be available in layman’s language and placed on the company’s website. The lecturer replied that it was, after all a legal contract, but as a Consumer Association she believes that we should take a stand.

Consumer PRO hi inizjattiva tal-Kummissjoni Ewropea taħt il-Programm Ewropew tal-Konsumaturi.

Din l-inizjattiva qed titmexxa mill-BEUC – the European Consumer Organisation. L-għan hu li nsaħħu l-għaqdiet Ewropej tal-konsumaturi u organizzazzjonijiet oħra f’dan il-qasam fuq il-policy dwar il-konsumaturi permezz ta’ edukazzjoni mhux formali.

Minħabba f’hekk, il-proġett Consumer PRO qed jipprovdilek dawk ir-riżorsi meħtieġa biex professjonisti fil-qasam tal-konsumaturi fl-Istati Membri kollha, l-Iżlanda u n-Norveġja jiġu mħarrġa fuq taqsimiet importanti ta’ dan is-suġġett.

• Il-proġett Consumer PRO għandu tliet għanijiet:
• l-aħħar żviluppi fil-Liġi tal-Konsumaturi,
• drittijiet diġitali u
• sostenibilita’

Oqsma li ġew identifikati mill-istħarriġ li kien sar fil-pajjiżi kollha biex jiġu identifikati l-aktar oqsma bżonjużi. Għalina l-Maltin ser tkun opportunita’ unika peress li ser jagħtina opportunita’ li nsiru nafu aktar lil xulxin u nitħarrġu kif nistgħu naħdmu aktar ma’ xulxin għall-ġid tal-konsumaturi.