Brussels, 25/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 24 November, the European Commission moved to the second stage of an infringement procedure against Luxembourg for non-application of European rules on consumer disputes in the domain of telecommunications. The Commission had previously sent a warning to this member state requesting that simple and inexpensive out-of-court procedures be put in place for consumers involved in telecoms service disputes, as stipulated in the European “universal service” directive. Luxembourg had introduced certain provisions in an effort to tackle the situation but national procedures currently in place are too costly (a minimum of €600), which the Commission considers “unacceptable”, taking into account the average phone bill. Luxembourg will be proposing a new law but this will not be voted on until next year and would therefore not be applied until the middle of 2011, which the Commission considers too late. Infringement procedures began in June 2010. (I.L./transl.fl)