Consumers are being cheated or misled by more than half of European websites selling electronic goods. If they do not change their ways, national regulators could close them.

The online market in the EU in products such as digital cameras, mobile phones or DVD players is worth around 6.8 billion euros per year. The European Union consumer watchdog said concealing information from Internet shoppers is one part of the problem. Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection: “If you live in France and you ‘d like to buy digital camera from a belgian website, you should be able to find clear information on the delivery rates to France before you agree to buy the camera. In many cases however customers could not find such information.” Checks carried out by national authorities in May showed that 55 percent of the websites investigated were misleading buyers about their consumer rights or shipping costs, or gave incomplete contact details. The study covered 369 sites in 28 countries.More about: Consumer Goods, European Union

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