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Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 on Consumer Protection Cooperation was adopted in 2004 to stop dishonest practices of traders targeting consumers living in other EU countries. It lays down the framework and general conditions under which Member States are to cooperate.
The Regulation sets up an EU-wide network of national enforcement authorities with similar investigation and enforcement powers. Under the new system, each of these authorities are able to call on other members of the network for assistance in investigating possible breaches of consumer laws and in taking action against rogue traders.
The network will tackle breaches of consumer law in a variety of areas such as misleading advertising, package holidays, timeshares and distance selling. Typical examples are stopping certain timeshare companies from using hard selling techniques or businesses offering their goods through the internet but not informing correctly about terms and conditions of contracts (e.g. right to withdraw from a contract without penalty; terms of delivery, administrative expenses). The network will also help stopping cross-border scams such as deceptive prize draws/international lotteries.
The EU-wide network of enforcement authorities formally started its operations end of 2006, but will be officially launched by Commissioner M. Kuneva on 28 February 2007 on the occasion of the first of regular meetings of EU enforcement authorities.
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