On 6 December 2022, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) started Federal Court proceedings against internet services provider Telstra for making false or misleading representations to consumers about upload speed to the residential broadband plan called ‘Belong.’
ACCC found that, between October and November 2020, Telstra transferred approximately 9000 customers from Belong plan with a maximum download speed of 100Mbps and maximum upload speed of 40Mbps to a service with a maximum upload speed of 20Mbps.
In November 2022, Telstra, Optus, and TPG were ordered to pay AUD$33.5 million for making false or misleading representations to consumers about specific internet plans under Australia’s national broadband network (NBN).
On 2 December 2022, the European Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a new consumer credit directive (repealing the current 2008 directive). The review of the regulation supports responsible and transparent practices by all users of consumer credit and is meant to also apply to the digital space. Given that a growing number of consumers apply for credit online, the new directive aims to ‘keep up with the trend of digitalisation’ and will apply to certain risky loans not currently covered by the rules: loans below €200, loans offered through crowd-lending platforms, and buy-now-pay-later products.
The agreement is subject to approval by the European Council and the European Parliament.
On 1 December 2022, the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) released a report titled ‘Enough deception! Norwegian consumer’s experiences with deceptive design‘. The analyses in the report show the use of deceptive design to mislead consumers. The NCC will share the report with the Norwegian Consumer Authority.
Some examples of deceptive design from the report:
• False hierarchy – when specific information is highlighted by placement, size, or colour;
• Preselection – when the best alternative for the business is preselected;
• Countdown timer – false information that the offer is about to end;
• Confirmshaming – worded choice to make the consumer feel scared or stupid; and
• Intermediate currency –use of virtual currency to hide the actual cost.
On 30 November 2022, the UK Competition and Market Authority (CMA) announced an investigation of Emma Sleep GmbH regarding online sales practices based on ‘urgency’ claims, potentially breaching UK consumer law.
The CMA will investigate if Emma Sleep used countdown timers and claims about time limits, implying a deadline for a discounted price and thereby harming consumers. The announcement of the investigation endorses the consumer protection programme based on Online Choice Architecture (OCA). The investigation is at an initial stage, and CMA will engage with Emma Sleep to gather additional evidence.
On 29 November 2022, the Ireland Consumer Rights Act 2022 (CRA) came into force. The CRA exchanged into law, among others, the Revised Sale of Goods Directive, the Contracts of the Supply of Digital Content and Digital Services Directive, and the Omnibus Directive.
The CRA enhances and modernises consumer protection laws extending them to digital goods and services and strengthening consumer rights and remedies. The fundamental changes introduced by the new legislation are:
• More substantial redress rights in case something goes wrong with the product or service purchased;
• New consumer rights for digital goods and services, including the requirement for businesses to provide information on how any digital updates would be provided and over what time;
• Stronger rights and remedies for service contracts such as repair, replacement, price reduction, cancellation of the contract, and total refund;
• Consumer Contract rights: business must provide essential information before the consumer signs up for a contract;
• Unfair Contract terms: prohibition of certain terms to be included in the terms and conditions of consumer contracts;
• Prohibition of fake reviews; and
• New Competition and Consumer Protection Commission enforcement powers.
On 29 November 2022, Ireland’s Consumer Rights Act 2022 (CRA) came into force. The act enhances and modernises consumer protection laws, extending them to digital goods and services and strengthening consumer rights and remedies.
On 28 November 2022, the European Parliament and Council agreed on the General Product Safety (GPSR) regulation to ensure that products sold offline and online are safe, and that they comply with European Standards. The GPSR updates the general product safety directive from 2001, modernises the rules for economic operators, and updates them for online businesses and marketplaces. The key points of the new regulation are:
• Obligations of economic operators and safety assessment – a product can be sold only if there is an economic operator in the EU;
• Removal of dangerous goods online – new obligations for online marketplaces, including the designation of a single point of contact for national surveillance authorities and consumers; and
• Recall, replacement, and refunds – improving the product recall procedure, as return rates remain low.
The Parliament and Council need to endorse the agreement before its adoption. The GPSR would apply 18 months after it enters into force.
Concluding an inquiry into Meta, the Irish Data Protection Commission issued a fine of EUR 265 million against the company for data scraping on Facebook, in violation of GDPR obligation for data protection by design and default. The inquiry commenced in April 2021, and looked into data processing on Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer, and Instagram Content Importer tools. The Commission’s decision requires Meta to bring the practices into compliance within an indicated timeframe.
On 28 November 2022, the European Commission launched a public consultation in the framework of its New Consumer Agenda initiative aimed to analyse whether additional action is needed to ensure an equal level of fairness online and offline. Within this initiative, three EU directives will be evaluated to determine if they ensure a high level of consumer protection in the digital space: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, and the Unfair Contract Terms Directive.
The public consultation is intended to collect views from all interested stakeholders on key problems related to consumer protection in the digital space, as well as possible solutions, and the scope for regulatory simplification and burden reduction. The consultation follows a call for an evidence period that ended on 14 June 2022. Public input will be accepted until 20 February 2023.
The final version of the evaluation is expected in the second quarter of 2024.
Meta reached an amicable solution with Bundeskartellamt, the German national competition regulatory agency, allowing users to access its VR headsets through a separate Meta account. In 2020, Bundeskartellamt initiated a proceeding against Meta, which was found to be a company of paramount importance across markets, concerning its condition to require German users of Oculus VR headsets to access those only via a Facebook or Instagram account. However, the proceedings are still ongoing about whether and how data is processed when different Meta services are combined. Until the proceedings are concluded, data from VR headsets will be kept separately from data collected from other Mets services.
