The European Commission put pressure on national regulators to crack down on misleading mobile content websites. An 18-month EU enquiry, which began in June 2008, reveals that online fraud on mobile content has been prevalent across the bloc.
The 2008 enquiry involved 558 websites in all 27 EU member states (plus Norway and Iceland) and was conducted between 2 and 6 June. 80% of the checked sites were highlighted as a cause for concern.
Since then national enforcement authorities have investigated 301 websites and, according to a statement from the Commission, 70% of infringements have now been corrected.
Malpractice in this niche market revolved mostly around the lack of information on the relevant trader. 75% of websites investigated evaded rules on trader contact information.
41% of websites had unclear or misleading pricing information and 35% deceived consumers into signing up to contracts with hidden charges, with some claiming that services were in fact free.
26 countries guilty
Trends in online fraud in the mobile content market are prevalent in all corners of the continent with Europe's regions all having their fair share of culpable websites.
Including Norway and Iceland, 29 countries' websites were investigated and 26 were found guilty. Portugal, Ireland and Slovakia were notable exceptions, with zero infringements.
To date only Italy agreed to reveal details of the companies that were found guilty. The list includes big market players such as Vodafone and Telecom Italia, which were cashing in on misleading commercial practices.
Other scams in Italy were run by Wind, Dada, Zed, H3G, Zeng, Fox Mobile and, ironically, Tutto Gratis. All the companies now face two million euro fines imposed by the Italian Antitrust Authority.
Online law still an anomaly
There are currently two EU laws which clearly apply to online shopping, one on distance selling and the second, an e-commerce law, intended to clarify rules on contact information provided by online retailers.
However, investigations by lawyers into the application of EU law online showed that transactions on the Internet still present consumers with great legal uncertainty.
