Commission to boost football fans’ consumer rights

A joint EU-UEFA information campaign and helpline is hoped to help the some 5 million football fans travelling to EURO 2008 in Austria and Switzerland this summer to enforce their rights regarding air line delays, mobile phone roaming charges, health insurance, car hire or fake tickets.

The campaign and helpline to inform EURO 2008 ticket holders of their consumer rights was launched today (20 May) to help answer the questions most frequently asked by consumers and fans travelling abroad.

While European consumers “have very good rights on paper, they don’t know what they are,” explained Consumers Commissioner Meglena Kuneva’s spokesperson Helen Kearns, adding that “when they do, they find it difficult to get practical advice to really make them reality”. Kearns said the Commission wanted to seize the opportunity presented by fans travelling en masse to the football to remind European citizens of their overall consumer rights when travelling abroad.

The EU-UEFA campaign consists of a free helpline number managed by the Europe Direct service, that will run throughout the month of June in all EU languages to provide practical advice for fans having problems on the ground. The number will, however, not be free when calling from third countries, including from Switzerland (where an alternative paying number will be available) despite the fact that the games are partly organised there.

In addition to the helpline, an advice leaflet is being distributed in English, French and German to give fans ten “top-tips” they should know before travelling to matches.

According to the Commission, the campaign draws on the experience of Germany during the 2006 World Cup, where the most common consumer problems met by fans were “uncertainty about their rights when it came to delayed flights, lost luggage, faulty purchases, medical care abroad and hiring a car”. 

The helpline will not provide assistance with questions related to other issues – such as legal rights, lost property, match information or ticket problems. Neither should it be used to report crimes, in which case the fans need to go to the police, embassy or UEFA fan embassies, explained the Commission.

Read more with Euractiv

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