WIREDGOV

Thanks to the joint action of the EU Member States and the European Commission, 116 websites selling digital games, books, videos and music have been brought in line with the EU consumer legislation.

Mr Neven Mimica, the European Commissioner for Consumer Policy, said: "Enforcement of consumer rights is a priority for me including in the rapidly changing digital environment. I am pleased that this sweep addressed some of the most important issues related to digital content downloads. A year ago over 50% of the websites were not compliant, which is unacceptable. This figure is now down to 20%, and further results are expected. This is great progress but I will continue to fight for improvements."

This improved protection is the outcome of the so-called "sweep" - an EU-wide screening of websites to identify breaches of consumer law and to subsequently ensure its enforcement. The screening of the websites that sell digital content took place in summer 2012. The national authorities checked, in total, 330 websites covering a large share of the market. Detailed investigation by national authorities found a total of 172 websites to be non-compliant with EU consumer law. They contacted the companies concerned in order to make these websites compliant. To date 116 websites have been corrected. 49 websites are subject to further proceedings; in 5 cases the infringements were minor and not pursued by the Member States, while 2 websites no longer exist. As a result of this intervention by the enforcement authorities in the EU Member States, 80% of the 330 websites are now in line with EU consumer legislation.

Click here for full press release