Filenews 7 November 2022
The amendment of the Consumer Protection Law of 2021 is explained by the service of the same name.
Specifically, the amendment of the Law "The Consumer Protection Law of 2021", which was recently approved by the plenary of the Parliament and is being implemented, includes a series of new provisions, which safeguard consumers in matters related to the protection of their financial interests, but also their inalienable right to have the correct and accurate information before taking the decision to make a transaction.
This amendment harmonizes Cypriot legislation with Directive (EU) 2019/2161, also known as the "New Deal for Consumers", which imposes new modern rules suitable for today's changing markets and business practices, stronger public and private enforcement tools and better redress possibilities.
The new legislation includes, among others, provisions regarding the following:
The consumer's right to individual remedies, proportionate and effective, where affected by unfair commercial practices, including aggressive marketing.
Transparency in online marketplaces (platforms), so that the consumer knows that, as a rule, he is not dealing with the platform itself, but with the online shop hosted on it and against which he is entitled to assert his rights. Furthermore, the consumer becomes transparent about the information he receives from the online marketplace or the search engine and comparison of goods and services, in particular in the form of ranking of search results or comparison or presentation of offers.
Protecting consumers from false offers by introducing an obligation for traders to accompany any notice of price reduction, indicating the previous price they demonstrably applied before the reduction, for a period of not less than 30 days.
Extension of the right to appropriate pre-contractual information, but also of the 14-day withdrawal to contracts for the supply of digital content (e.g. applications, games), but also to online contracts in general (e.g. e-mail service, file hosting, cloud storage), where the consideration on the part of the consumer is not money, but his personal data.
Strengthening the enforcement of consumer legislation, with increased penalties by national authorities up to 4% of the company's turnover, depending on the extent of the infringement and taking into account its cross-borderness.
On this occasion, the Consumer Protection Service invites traders to be informed about their obligations, as they arise from the new legislation, in order to fully comply. It also calls for special emphasis to be placed on the issue of posting prices during the sales period and on the application of the relevant provision required to indicate the previous lowest price applied by the trader within a period of thirty (30) days prior to the application of the price reduction.
Finally, it invites consumers to be informed and claim their rights and to contact the Consumer Protection Service for information or any consumer problem they may face, at the free Consumer Hotline (1429) or on www.consumer.gov.cy website.
The basic and amending laws are posted on the website of the Consumer Protection Service (www.consumer.gov.cy).
