On Tuesday 18 June, the European Commission published an evaluation report online on the ‘omnibus’ directive, dated 2019 and applicable from 2022, which updates consumer protection with regard to online commerce (‘Modernisation Directive’).
While the report points to an overall improvement in the Member States, a number of points still leave something to be desired: for example, the transparency rules relating to promotions, search results and the status of third-party sellers on platforms are described as “requiring further improvement”.
The report also highlights the problem of false reviews – both negative and positive – which proliferate on this type of platform.
On the other hand, the penalties and fines set out in the directive are among the positive points that have been correctly transposed by the Member States.
The report also highlights the early stage of implementation of this directive and notes that the changes are, for the moment, positive, but that they “require particular attention and rigorous monitoring”.
This report comes just a few months before the publication of the Commission’s ‘fairness check’, a broader review of online consumer law. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)