Activities of Marian HARKIN related to 2008/2126(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Misleading business directories (debate)
Amendments (15)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas Parliament has received more than 400 petitions, mainly fromreflecting only a fraction of small businesses, who claim to have fallen victim to misleading advertising by business- directory companies and consequently suffered psychological stress, feelings of guilt, embarrassment, frustration and financial loss,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas these complaints reflect a widespread and concerted practice of misleading business practices amounting to fraud applied by some business directory companies affecting thousands of businesses in the European Union and beyond, with a significant financial impact on businessethat are organised across frontiers and thus involve activity in two or more Member States (with the companies having different legal identities, therefore avoiding liability) in the European Union and beyond, with a significant financial impact on businesses, and whereas there is no administrative mechanism or legal instrument enabling the national law-enforcement agencies to work together across borders,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas neither specific EU legislation nor national legislation exists in Member States (except in Austria where contractual and criminal remedies are available) concerning directory companies in business-to-business relationships, and whereas Member States have a discretion to introduce more comprehensive and far-reaching legislation,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas Directive 2006/114 also applies to business-to-business transactions and defines “misleading advertising” as “any advertising which in any way, including its presentation, deceives or is likely to deceive the persons to whom it is addressed or whom it reaches and which by reason of its deceptive nature, is likely to affect their economic behaviour or which, for those reasons, injures or is likely to injure a competitor”; whereas, however, different interpretations of what is "misleading" seem to be a major practical impediment in combating such practices of directory companies in business-to- business relationships,
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices does not apply business-to- business misleading practices and therefore, in its current form, cannot be relied upon to help the petitioners; whereas, however, that Directive does not preclude a system of national rules on unfair commercial practices that is equally applicable under all circumstances to consumers and enterprises, of the kind implemented in Austria,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas Regulation (EC) 2006/2004 on co-operation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws defines “intra- Community infringement” as “any act or omission contrary to the laws that protect consumers’ interests … that harms, or is likely to harm, the collective interests of consumers residing in a Member State or Member States other than the Member State where the act or omission originated or took place, or where the responsible seller or supplier is established, or where evidence or assets pertaining to the act or omission are to be found”, and whereas Directive 2006/114/EC provides for the possibility of administrative fines and cross-border cooperation in relation to unfair practices by directory companies,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas most petitioners name the business directory known as “European City Guide”, which is based in Valencia, Spain (the activities of which directory have been the subject of legal and administrative action), but other business- directory companies such as “Construct Data Verlag”, “Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH” and “NovaChannel” are also mentioned, whereas, however, other business-directory companies engage in legitimate business practices and should not be prevented or discouraged from exercising their right to engage in the business of directories by the incompatibility or complexity of legal and administrative systems in the Member States,
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the business-directory companies are often established in a Member State other than the victim's, making it difficult for the victims to seek protection from national authorities due to the existence of different interpretations in Member States of what is considered misleading, whereas victims also often find no redress from national legislative frameworks and consumer protection authorities because they are told that the law is intended to protect consumers and not businesses, whereas being small businesses, most victims often lack the resources to pursue an effective remedy through litigation, and self-regulatory mechanisms for directories are of little relevance as they are disregarded by those that engage in misleading advertising,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas a number of Member States have adopted initiatives, notably of an awareness-raising nature, among potentially affected companies and whereas this includes information sharing, advice, alerting state enforcement authorities and in some cases maintaining a complaints register in order to tackle this problem,
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that the cross-border nature of this problem places responsibilia duty on the Community institutions to provide an adequat reasonable remedy to victims, such that so as to allow for bona fide commercial operations to continue through advertising between SMEs, in tandem with allowing the validity of contracts concluded on the basis of misleading advertising could be effectiveand inducements to be effectively and efficiently contested and, annulled or terminated, and that victims cshould be able to obtain a reimbursement of the money that they paid;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Urges victims to report cases of business scams to national authorities, and tocalls on Member States to provide SMEs with the "know-how" needed in order to enable them to file complaints with governmental and non-governmental authorities, by ensuring that communication pathways are open and that victims are aware that advice is available so that they can seek appropriate advice before they settle fees demanded from them by misleading business-directory companies; urges Member States to set up and maintain a centralised database of these complaints;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the efforts made by European and national business organisations to raise awareness among their members and calls on them to intensify their efforts in collaboration with grass-roots organisations so that fewer people become victims of misleading business directories in the first place;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission to address the problem of business scams in the context of its “Small Business Act for Europe” initiative, as proposed in its communication entitled "A Single Market for 21st Century Europe", and to engage with the Enterprise Europe Network, the SOLVIT network and the relevant DG portals as a further means of delivering information and assistance regarding these problems;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recalls that, whereas the Commission has no power to enforce the Directive directly against individuals or companies, it does have the duty, as the guardian of the Treaty, to ensure that the Directive is adequately implemented by Member States; therefore calls on the Commission to ensure that Member States fully and effectively transpose Directive 2005/29/EC so that protection is guaranteed in all Member States, and to influence the shape of the legal and procedural tools available, as in the case of Directive 84/450/EC, which provided tools to Austria, Spain and the Netherlands, thereby fulfilling its duty as guardian of the Treaty in terms of protection for businesses whilst ensuring that the right of establishment and freedom to provide services are not impaired;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Regrets that Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair practices does not cover business-to- business transactions and that Member States appear reluctant to extend its scope; notes, however, that Member States may unilaterally extend the scope of their national consumer legislation to business- to-business transactions and actively encourages them to do so and also to ensure cooperation between Member States' authorities as provided for in Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 in order to make it possible to track down cross- border activities of this kind engaged in by actors established within the EU or third- country actors;