Europaudvalget 2021-22
EUU Alm.del Bilag 619
Offentligt
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7th of June 2022
Denmark’s response to the Call for Evidence on Digital Fairness – fit-
ness check on EU Consumer Law
The Danish Government welcomes the Commission’s decision to launch a
fitness check of the EU Consumer Law and appreciates the opportunity to
comment on the Commission’s Call for Evidence on Digital Fairness – fit-
ness check on EU Consumer Law. It is important that the EU consumer
law continues to be up to date and able to handle new challenges arising
especially from the growing digitalization of our society.
Although the consumer legislation has recently been updated with New
Deal for Consumers, the Danish government still finds it is necessary to
further study and identify challenges for consumers in the digital sphere.
More specific, there is a need to look into existing legislation in order to
ensure that the regulatory setup in place is providing the right level of pro-
tection for consumers, when they shop online or sign up for subscriptions,
etc.
Further, the Danish government finds it of utmost importance to look into
what children and minors are exposed to online, such as new methods of
commercial practices. Although, the recently adopted regulation on digital
services (DSA) and the new BIK+ strategy focus on creating more age-
appropriate digital services, the Danish government has further identified
challenges with children being able to access digital services with harmful
content, such as pornographic content. Several member states have already
adopted national rules demanding age verification for users to enter porno-
graphic sites. Such a requirement should be harmonized at a European
level. Hence, the Danish government calls on the Commission to further
look into how to ensure other legal acts are fit for the digital age and pro-
tects children online.
Ban on digital design practices (dark patterns) targeted at minors
As stated in the newly published strategy from the Commission “Better
Internet for Kids (BIK+)
children are exposed to inappropriate content and
commercial practices.
The Danish government believes that the internet should be a safe space
for children and minors and easy for them to navigate within. In the digital
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world, children are particular vulnerable and are easily exposed to manip-
ulation from digital service providers because of their age and thus lack of
experience. The impact on children as regards to methods used for com-
mercial purposes such as persuasive designs in social media and in games,
e.g. loot boxes, need to be studied more and handled upon.
The Danish government is of the opinion that the digital service providers
should take on a greater responsibility to make sure that the design of the
platforms, functions and the products provided on the platforms are not to
the detriment of the well-being of the child. Particularly mechanisms,
which serve to retain the user should clearly be prohibited. This is im-
portant when the user is a child as they are more perceptible to manipula-
tive practices - particularly on social media and in gaming, where children
and minors are the most present.
In the Commission guidelines to the UCPD from 2022, it is highlighted
that the Directive covers practices resulting from transaction-decisions in
retainment, such as scrolling through a feed. For the sake of clarity the
Danish government finds that the directive should explicitly address design
features such as Snapstreaks, auto play, infinity scroll and even consider
whether a ban should be put in place for these types of features.
On the issue of loot boxes the Danish government would like to express
concern of the addictive nature of this particular feature. To our knowledge
many Member States do not define loot boxes as gambling even though
loot boxes have some of the same characteristics. Thus, we call on the
Commission to study the nature of loot boxes and the impact on children
in depth and to consider introducing an explicit ban in the Directive for
certain age groups.
Online terms and conditions (T&C) should be presented in a more salient
and visible way for consumers
Online terms and conditions (T&C) provide the consumer with information
on a range of important issues, e.g. privacy-, shipping- and returnpolicies.
Despite their importance, consumers seem to ignore T&C’s, mainly be-
cause they can be difficult to comprehend and compare across traders. An
EU study from 2016 found that less than 10 pct. Of European Consumers
read the T&C’s before making an online purchase.
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Webshops T&C’s are often long, complex and difficult to compare. For
instance, some websites only show the price of shipping when the con-
sumer has begun the purchase by entering personal data. As a consequence,
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European Commission (2016): “Study on Consumers’ Attitudes towards Terms and
Conditions”
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consumers will be less inclined to choose a webshop, i.e. according to the
price including shipping than if the information was clearly highlighted on
the product place.
A study from the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority
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demon-
strates, that T&C’s which are easy to understand and are presented up-front
to the consumer at the time of purchase, are far easier for the consumer to
use. In other words, T&Cs can be made more salient and the visibility and
comparability of T&Cs can have a significant impact on consumer choice
and improve consumers’ ability to understand and navigate online com-
mercial domains.
The Danish government call on the Commission to look further into to the
legal framework for T&Cs. To ensure effective consumer information in
an online shopping environment, the Danish government suggest the Com-
mission to look into how to make the T&C’s more salient and visible up-
front in the time of purchase, i.e. by requiring a standardized format to
allow consumers to easily assess T&Cs when the consumers first encoun-
ters the product.
Simon Kollerup
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Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (2018) ”Improving the Effectiveness of
Terms and Conditions in Online Trade
20180621-improving-the-effectiveness-of-terms-
and-conditions_ny4.pdf (kfst.dk)
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