The EU’s Distance Selling Directive was implemented in UK on 31
October 2000 in the form of Regulations which give consumers who
buy goods and services by mail order, over the internet or phone,
key basic rights to prior information, written confirmation, a
7-day cooling off period and delivery of goods within 30 days.
According to the results of a survey carried out by the NCC,
only 17% of UK sites met legal requirements and informed customers
of their rights to cancel within a few days of delivery (compared
to 39% in the EU overall). Only a minority of UK and EU sites
offered good practice, such as giving information on item
availability (one in three) or dealing with problems (one in
six).
The NCC’s figures are inconsistent with findings released by the
Office of Fair Trading in March this year which suggested that 48%
of UK sites comply with the Distance Selling.
According to the NCC’s figures, 40% of the UK businesses tested
did not deliver within the time quoted on their site, and 30% of UK
and EU sites gave no information about which countries the business
would ship to.
What’s more, as the global survey makes clear, shoppers in the
UK, as well as elsewhere, were plagued by delivery delays and by
bureaucracy and inconvenience when returning items for a refund.
Buying through a portal or shopping mall site left some shoppers
confused about which terms and conditions, company information and
security policies would apply in the ”real world”.
The NCC is now calling on the UK government to raise business’
awareness of the distance selling laws. The Council also wants much
tougher policing of these laws and for the Office of Fair Trading
to use the stronger powers it will be given under the forthcoming
Enterprise Bill to approve and monitor a robust code of practice
for UK businesses that sell on the internet.
The survey was carried out by 15 national member bodies of
Consumers International in late 2000 and early 2001. Researchers in
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong,
Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and US placed a total
of 412 orders to internet traders based in the EU and US.
