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How a bottle of perfume could cost EU citizens their consumer rights

Posted by simon, 30.11.09

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[Disclosure: the Campaign for Consumer Choice is supported by eBay]

You may have seen the news today that an injunction issued by the French Commercial Court of Paris has fined eBay €1.7 million saying eBay had failed to comply with an injunction issued last year, which prevented eBay’s French users from buying and selling authentic Christian Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy and Guerlain perfume products on any eBay site in the world.

eBay’s official statement said that it had complied with the injunction and filtered out listings of authentic LVMH products. They went on to state that today’s ruling strikes a blow against consumer rights for citizens across the EU and represents the thin edge of the wedge for consumer choice across all of online.

The results of the case worryingly reveals that, in France at least, if you buy perfume brands from Louis Vuitton then you don’t actually buy the right to re-sell those perfumes. Even worse is that the case highlights a flaw in the founding idea of the Internal Market: free trade and the ability of people to buy and sell goods across European borders.

Tamebay’s Chris Dawson puts it succinctly when he writes

“…what’s important is that French eBay users who own a bottle of perfume don’t have the right to sell it. French users are blocked from buying perfume from any eBay site world wide, not just from eBay France. French consumers are being discriminated against and have lost the freedom to purchase perfumes from other EU countries. For the French the EU Single Market no longer exists”.

A statement from eBay’s General Manager in France, Alex von Schirmeister suggests that the ruling will impact directly on consumers and is likely to be over-turned in the “higher courts”. A full transcript can be found below and the full statement from eBay can be found online here:

“Today’s outcome hurts consumers by preventing them from buying and selling authentic items online. The injunction is an abuse of ‘selective distribution’. It effectively enforces restrictive distribution contracts, which is anti-competitive.
“We believe that the higher courts will overturn this ruling and ensure that eCommerce companies such as eBay will continue to provide a platform for buyers and sellers to trade authentic goods.”

Mr von Schirmeister added, “The fine itself is disproportionate given that eBay complied with the Injunction. It is out of step with our legal victories in France, UK, Germany, Belgium and the US.” The fine itself is disproportionate given that eBay complied with the Injunction. It is out of step with our legal victories in France, UK, Germany, Belgium and the US.”

eBay plans to appeal against LVMH’s original injunction and hearings are scheduled for Spring 2010. The Campaign for Consumer Choice will provide more information on these cases as we get it and update you as to what the implications will be for consumers who buy and sell goods online.

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Thank you for signing our petition!

Posted by simon, 20.11.09

Back in July a petition was launched by eBay calling on EU citizens to make their voice heard and support the right to trade freely online within the EU. At present, EU laws give brands and companies the right to stop people from buying and selling legitimate products online. As a result, consumer choice is being limited and consumers are being prevented from accessing better value goods legitimately online.

The EU Commission is in the process of reviewing and modifying these vertical restraints laws, and on 16th September we presented the results of our petition, calling on the EU to ensure that it took into account the views of ordinary EU citizens who were online retailers and consumers. An outstanding 750,000 of you signed eBay’s petition and sent a clear message to EU policymakers.

While we hope the EU Commission listens to this powerful call for free and fair online retail, there will continue to be issues that arise which will impact on consumer choice online.

Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs came to the same conclusions in a number of recent studies and reports published by the Commission.

The Consumer Choice campaign will continue to track these issues, campaign for consumer choice across the EU and we want you to get involved and help.

You can find out more about the Campaign for Consumer Choice by taking a look at our short film, which explains what the campaign is all about in 60 seconds. You can also add us on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and subscribe to our RSS feed to discover the final decision taken by the Commission and keep up to date with the campaign in general.

From the Consumer Choice campaign, thanks again for all your support!

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Have you signed up for lower prices online?

Posted by simon, 15.10.09

So far 750,000 people from across the EU have signed our petition saying ‘yes’ to lower prices for goods online, including 251,712 – over a quarter of a million – from the UK alone.

But we don’t want to stop here. The EU commission is still considering the European Vertical Restraints Regulation and Guidelines and we want as many people as possible to send a clear message to policy-makers that British consumers support fairer trade and increased consumer choice online.

We need you to help defend your right to buy your favourite authentic goods online and support free trade online. Add your name to our petition by visiting www.ebaycampaigns.com

As part of this process, eBay is calling for support for cross-border internet sales, increasing consumer choice and treating online and offline channels equally.

251,712 Brits signed the eBay petition. All of the petitions on Twitition total just 132,255 with the largest having15,455. eBay’s petition addresses a relatively obscure piece of competition law so three quarters of a million signatures shows just how important the issue is for consumers and online sellers.

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The EU’s an open market. Make the most of it.

Posted by simon, 7.10.09

Blogger and eBay seller, Chris Dawson, attended the launch event in Strasbourg where we presented a petition signed by 750,000 eBayers to the European Parliament.

The petition calls for amendments to EU competition law to stop brands from restricting the sale of their products online.

We interviewed Chris and a number of other sellers at the event (we’ll be putting some of this content on the site shortly) but one important point Chris makes is that the whole point of “being in the EU is that it’s an open market. So let’s make the most of it.”

We couldn’t agree more and our petition aims to make sure that the final decision the EU Commission makes on its European Vertical Restraints Regulation and Guidelines fully supports cross-border internet sales, increased consumer choice and treating online and offline channels equally.

As Chris writes on his blog:

“750,000 signatories is a huge number which the EU will find hard to ignore. To put it into context on the Downing Street website the combined total for the top five open petitions have just 195,459 signatures – 251,712 signed the eBay petition from the UK.

All of the petitions on Twitition total just 132,255 with the largest being 15,455. eBay’s petition addresses a relatively obscure piece of competition law so three quarters of a million signatures shows just how important the issue is for consumers and online sellers.”

Chris also took the opportunity to explain why our campaign is important when he appeared on BBC News 24 last month. You can catch Chris in this YouTube clip where he explains to the Great British public why it is vital to help protect millions of EU consumers and their rights to purchase fairly priced products.

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Mary Honeyball MEP speaks out for Consumer Choice

Posted by simon, 28.09.09

The British Labour MEP for London, Mary Honeyball, has written a blog post on the political website LabourList about our Campaign for Consumer Choice launch event at which she spoke. You can read her full article here.

In her post Mary sets out three clear arguments why policy-makers must amend current EU trading laws and why she supports our campaign.

Firstly, Mary argues that the internet allows consumers to purchase goods at a fair price which is especially important during tough economic times. She highlights the fact that the campaign isn’t just about companies protecting luxury or premium brands, it’s about stopping consumers making savings on everyday products.

Mary writes:

“High prices harm everyone. This is not just about expensive handbags and luxury products – it is about things bought by millions of consumers all over Europe. It’s also about new goods, not just second-hand – parents getting sporting goods, shoes, school bags and other equipment for their children and general consumers buying cycling helmets, ski equipment, mp3 players, computers and household appliances like washing machines.”

The second argument for amending EU trading laws is quite simply that they’re out-of-date! The current regulations were drawn up 10 years ago when the idea of buying and selling goods in a global online marketplace was but a twinkle in the internet’s eye.

Mary observes that “The internet redistributes power to the consumer in ways we could not have envisaged only a few years ago. The presentation of this unprecedented petition should be a wake up call to the Commission to think again about its review of these regulations.”

And last – but by no means least – removing restrictions on buying and selling goods online is good for the economy. Many businesses, that make money through online trading, are small to medium sized enterprises and the mainstay of most European countries.

Perhaps more significantly, the ability to run a small business by buying and selling goods online also allows people to run successful business from home while having the flexibility to spend more time with their families.

Mary ends by issuing a rallying call to consumers across Europe:

“The way things stand at present just makes everyone poorer. It hurts consumers. It costs jobs and damages businesses … The manufacturers and traditional retailers will be lobbying the Commission hard to protect themselves from having to compete with on fair basis with internet businesses. Those of us who want a fair deal for consumers must do the same.”

You can watch a video of her full speech at the EU Parliament on Mary’s YouTube page and read her full post over at LabourList.

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Welcome to the Campaign for Consumer Choice

Posted by simon, 28.09.09

Hi there and welcome to the home of the Consumer Choice campaign. We’ll be adding more to the site over the coming weeks, but in the meantime have a read about what we are campaigning for.

The campaign has been started by online marketplace, eBay, because we think it’s wrong that current EU law gives companies permission to stop people from buying and selling legitimate products online – whether they’re new or second-hand.

We asked people from across Europe whether they also thought this was unfair: more than 750,000 agreed with us by signing our online petition which we presented to the European Parliament at an event on Thursday 16th September.

The event sent a powerful message to EU politicians and policy-makers. Small businesses that sell through eBay spoke of the intimidating tactics adopted by certain brands to try to stop them earning a living. A number of MEPs attending the event joined our calls for the EU to update its laws so they are relevant for the internet age but so that consumers can always access greater choice and value by shopping online.

Please watch our film (embedded above) which tells you what the campaign is all about in 60 seconds.

We’ll be posting some video footage shot at the launch event over the coming days. In the meantime subscribe to our RSS feed for latest campaign news and updates.

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