Netherlands Consumer Authority Annual Report 2009: Supervision and assertive consumers form a powerful combination

"In order to bring about a change of behaviour in a market, the enforcement authority requires assertive consumers, effective tools and a long-term approach", explained Bernadette van Buchem, Director of the Consumer Authority, following the publication of the organisation's Annual Report for 2009. "Companies will only feel pressurized to comply if the efforts of the enforcement authority are backed by consumers who are vociferous and assertive of their rights. Only by joining forces can something actually change in a market. Companies themselves sometimes feel there are too few incentives to respect the rights of consumers, in matters such as guarantees, SMS services or online purchases. Assertive consumers keep companies on their toes and provide us with ammunition for our enforcement activities with their reports about companies who violate the regulations. Together, the Consumer Authority and ConsuWijzer form an outstanding combination."

Review of 2009

In 2009, the third year in which the Consumer Authority was operational, it completed 115 supervisory investigations, namely 67 national and 48 international investigations. The enforcement authority imposed five sanctions in various sectors amounting to EUR 418,250 in total, and extracted three undertakings.

In 2009, the Consumer Authority focussed upon the following priority areas: SMS services, sales pitches, guarantees & conformity and telemarketing. The Review states what the enforcement authority has done in relation to each priority area. What is more, investigations have begun outside of the Agenda on the basis of reports to ConsuWijzer, such as the investigation into the re-sale of tickets via the internet.

In 2009, experience was also gained for the first time in enforcement on the basis of the Unfair Commercial Practices Act (Wet oneerlijke handelspraktijken (OHP)). "This Act has enabled us to tackle a wide range of violations in the misleading and/or aggressive practices category. At the start of 2010, the first fines pursuant to the Unfair Commercial Practices Act were made public: fines for two kitchen companies that did not observe their own code of conduct and for a company that offered photo shoots in a misleading manner, such as through social networking sites. We would not have been able to tackle these matters effectively without this Act", explains Bernadette van Buchem.

ConsuWijzer

In 2009, the number of visits to the ConsuWijzer website doubled to 2 million. The number of reports made by telephone and e-mail increased from 92,000 in 2008 to 107,000 in 2009. The information desk for consumers, which, in addition to the Consumer Authority, is also run by the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) and the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA), provided the Consumer Authority with a great deal of valuable information in 2009 about companies that do not observe the regulations. The Consumer Authority used this information in various investigations, such as with regard to the undertakings relating to guarantees, the issue of the photo shoots and the investigation into online ticket sales.

International

Some of the work of the Consumer Authority is international in nature. The enforcement authority forms part of a European network of consumer enforcement authorities that are able to call upon one another to obtain information about companies and for enforcement actions, if required. In 2009, the Consumer Authority once again received a large number of requests for information and enforcement and also sent a large number of requests itself. In 2009, the Consumer Authority asked the Spanish enforcement authority to take enforcement action against a company established in Spain that tricks Dutch consumers by offering holiday clubs.

In the second half of 2010, the Consumer Authority will begin with its role as Chair of the global network of consumer authorities ICPEN (International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network). Almost 50 people are employed with the Consumer Authority (44.5 FTE).