EU cracks down on ringtone websites

Posted on 21 Jul 2008 at 16:14

The EU Commission has launched an investigation into the misrepresentation of prices for downloadable ringtones. According to the Commission that consumers who believed they were downloading free ringtones were actually being lured into subscriptions.

The EU commission carried out an "EU Sweep" of 500 websites offering downloadable ringtones from the EU, Norway and Iceland over the course of a year.

The EU Sweep is a new kind of enforcement action co-ordinated by the European Commission under. It consists of a systematic check carried out simultaneously in different member states to investigate breaches of consumer protection law.

The EU sweep on downloadable ringtone websites discovered that 80 per cent of those sites warrant further investigation for possible breaches of consumer law.

The Commission stated that many of the websites are tailored to children and young people, perceived as an easy target for large companies.

Meanwhile, the Commission has confirmed a proposal to force mobile phone operators to cap the price of roaming texts will be put forward this autumn. Viviane Reding, telecoms commissioner, will propose a 9p limit on the cost of texts consumers make whilst travelling across the EU.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota

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