Seldia provided input to the Call for evidence and Public Consultation on the Digital Fairness Act.
Below you can find a summary of our key messages:
- Enforcement of consumer protection rules: effective enforcement of consumer protection rules is essential to guarantee consumers an adequate level of protection in their online interactions. To achieve this, the EU should strengthen coordination among Member States, enhance enforcement tools and resources, and make the revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation a pressing priority.
- Dark patterns: existing EU legislation already provides adequate provisions to address dark patterns. Rather than introducing new rules, the EU should develop coherent guidelines on the interplay between consumer protection rules and other legal frameworks to enhance legal certainty and ensure the effective protection of consumer rights.
- Unfair personalisation practices: restricting personalisation practices would not only hinder businesses, especially SMEs, but also limit consumer choice. We oppose restrictive measures such as an opt-in system.
- Harmful practices by social media influencers: influencer marketing is covered by a comprehensive legal framework, complemented by soft-law instruments, self-regulatory initiatives, training, and certifications. However, as not all Member States have followed the same approach, we recommend developing clear and simple guidelines on influencer marketing to achieve harmonisation.
- Unfair marketing related to pricing: given that the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive already prohibits misleading practices, any further clarification could be offered through updated guidance to reflect evolving marketing practices, rather than through new rigid rules on pricing.
- Issues with digital contracts: considering the current and recently revised legislation, it would be premature to introduce new measures at this stage.
- Simplification measures: simplifying information obligations by focusing on content that is truly relevant and useful for consumers, together with harmonised price reduction rules, would strengthen clarity and transparency across the EU.
- Digitalisation information: digital methods of providing and retrieving information should become the standard, enabling businesses to operate more efficiently and empowering consumers to make well-informed decisions.
- Horizontal issues: the existing legal framework should be maintained, avoiding disproportionate horizontal measures that could create legal uncertainty, increase costs, or limit the freedom of choice for businesses.
Read here our response to the Call for Evidence.
Read here our response to the Public Consultation.