Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-20-Speech-2-285"
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".
I should like to thank Mrs McCarthy for her question. My thanks go also to the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection. I shall try to answer the question within the framework set by Mrs McCarthy.
The Member States deal with unfair business practices as stipulated by their legislation. The example of the European City Guide, which you mentioned in your question, has also been brought before the courts in at least one Member State.
I should like to thank you again for your question, and I shall in any case listen attentively to the debate.
With regard to the first question, namely what Member States have done to close fraudulent directory services, I must inform you that as yet the Council has not received a proposed solution from the Member States. Similarly, it has not been informed either of action taken by the Member States to close such companies or of the intentions of their competent authorities as regards exchanging data on the companies.
With regard to the second question, about taking steps to close the loopholes in transposition of the Misleading Advertising Directive – the European Commission is responsible for this Directive and its implementation, as laid down in Article 211 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. So in my opinion, the European Parliament should address this question to the European Commission.
In connection with these two questions, I should also add that as yet the Council has not been informed of what action the Member States have initiated to make the business world aware of the risk constituted by fraudulent directory services.
With regard to the issue of extending the scope of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, I can, however, confirm to Mrs McCarthy that this Directive does not cover the cases described by the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection. In other words, it does not cover cases of fraudulent commercial practices targeting small and medium-sized enterprises.
The reason for this is that the scope of application of the Directive concerned is restricted to business-to-consumer relations. With regard to the possible extension of this Directive to business-to-business relations, I can only say that the Council will adopt a position on this issue as soon as an appropriate legislative proposal is put before it.
I should, however, remind you that the Council has already debated the issue of whether the relevant Directive should also cover business-to-business practices, at the time when the Directive was adopted. I should remind you that in addition to the Commission, most Member States also rejected the idea of extending the Directive to cover unfair commercial practices that do not harm the consumer.
Irrespective of this, however, I must emphasise that companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises, are not without protection against such practices. They are protected by the Misleading Advertising Directive.
I should like to end by explicitly agreeing, on behalf of the Presidency, with the Committee’s view that unfair and fraudulent business practices are unacceptable in any economic area. I also believe that action needs to be taken against such conduct."@en1
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