Today, the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities published the results of a pan-European web site review of online consumer reviews. Coordinated by the Commission, the authorities of 26 Member States, Iceland and Norway, checked 223 popular websites for misleading consumer ratings.
Nearly two-thirds of the online stores, shopping, travel booking, search engine and comparison sites surveyed raised doubts about the reliability of the ratings: For 144 of the 223 sites checked, authorities could not confirm that to ensure that the ratings are authentic, that is, that they were posted by consumers who actually used the rated product or service.
Consumer protection authorities have concluded that at least 55% of the sites audited may be in breach of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which requires consumers to be provided with accurate information so that they can make informed choices. For another 18% of websites, authorities also expressed doubts.
The Commission will continue to work with the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) on this important issue and to support national authorities in enforcement actions.
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