The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant effect on people’s shopping behaviour. As most non-essential shops were ordered to close, sellers had to rapidly adapt to the unprecedented new situation by taking their business online.
The staggering increase of online sellers has unfortunately also led to a rise in commercial practices that are detrimental to consumers, such as rogue trading, price hikes and misinformation.
To enhance consumers’ protection online, the European Commission coordinated a sweep of online selling sites to uncover false claims and scam products related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This screening exercise was undertaken by the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, which links national authorities responsible for enforcing EU consumer laws in each member state.
The Office for Consumer Affairs at the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, which is Malta’s liaison office and competent authority in this network, also took part in this common action.
The sweep involved a high level of screening of platforms’ compliance with EU laws. Particular attention was given to platforms selling protective masks and caps and sanitising gels, as well as food supplements and non-food products with alleged healing properties related to the coronavirus.
During the sweep, the authorities found several dubious offers concerning products that are being misleadingly advertised, unfounded claims that a product was able to cure illness or infection, and excessive prices.
Out of 268 websites screened, 206 were flagged for further investigation for potential breach of EU consumer law
The screening revealed that the direct appeal to the major online platforms by European Commissioner for Justice and Consumers Didier Reynders urging them to take down online scams, had been very effective. For instance, Google globally blocked or removed over 80 million coronavirus-related adverts; eBay removed 17 million listings that violate EU consumer rules from its global marketplace; and Amazon reported a 77 per cent decrease in the weekly number of new product listings with coronavirus-related claims.
The Consumer Protection Cooperation sweep exercise also involved an in-depth analysis of advertisements or offers.
Out of 268 websites screened, 206 were flagged for further investigation for potential breach of EU consumer law. These infringements included alleged healing claims against the coronavirus, inaccurate claims on the scarcity of products, and excessive prices. It was also observed that when shopping from these websites, consumers were not provided with clear and comprehensive information on the identity of the trader and the trader’s contact details.
Following these results, the European Commission will coordinate cooperation between the Consumer Protection Cooperation Authorities and domain registers which may be requested to take down harmful websites. In addition, the Commission will continue to provide advice to consumers and traders and to monitor illicit trading practices to prevent consumer scams.
www.mccaa.org.mt
odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt
Odette Vella, Director, Information and Research Directorate