Press Release: Consumers: EU clamp-down on cross border fraudsters

Traders breaking the law on a cross border basis face an EU wide crackdown, as a powerful new enforcement network is officially launched in Brussels on 28 February 2007. The network will target cross-border scams such as phoney lotteries and bogus holiday clubs. It will also clamp down on systematic abuses of EU consumer protection rules, from a company's refusal to give refunds on airline delays to pressure selling of timeshare holidays to sending misleading holiday brochures to consumers in other EU countries. The Enforcement Cooperation Regulation sets up an EU wide network between enforcement bodies to tackle crooks who rip off victims in one country but operate in another. It also establishes minimum standards for national enforcement authorities. This will include the ability to conduct on-site inspections, impose fines and to order companies to cease illegal practices. These powers could result, for instance, in freezing the assets of scamsters and preventing them causing more harm to consumers and honest traders.

European Commission: DG Communication: MEMO/07/86 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/86&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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