The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has commenced a campaign to make businesses who sell online aware of the protections that they must give consumers who are based in the EU.
There are a set of consumer protection laws, known as the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD), which provide protections to consumers who buy goods or services online, the state agency said in a statement.
The CCPC’s ‘Selling Online’ campaign was informed by research commissioned to identify business’s awareness of the CRD and measure awareness of specific aspects of the law.
“As we approach the big shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday we know that this is a particularly busy time for retailers," Áine Carroll, Director of Communications and Policy at the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, said.
"However, it is important that businesses understand their obligations under consumer protection law and particularly, that they realise that these obligations do not change during sale times. Our campaign is intended to particularly help smaller businesses who may not be aware of the Consumer Rights Directive or those who may have just started selling online."
Adhering To CRD
According to the CCPC, research found that the vast majority of companies are aware of, and adhere to the CRD’s requirements to refund customers who cancel their order for any reason within the legal timeframe.
According to Carroll however, it did see some confusion was the point at which particular statutory timeframes commence, for example, how long consumers have to return the goods back to the business.
"And so, to help businesses understand these obligations, we have developed a specific guide which provides an easy to follow overview of the different requirements under the CRD," she added.
"We know that businesses want to comply with the law, so in addition to our enforcement activity we want to provide support for businesses."
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
