Proposed amendments to the EU Consumer Rights Directive could
have a significant impact on UK businesses if approved-and will
see some companies forced out of business, say its critics. The
Directive, which is currently being considered by the EU
Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee,
could come into effect as early as 1st January 2013. It proposes
that web-based retailers should sell their wares into every
country in the EU. Further, businesses are obliged to cover the
cost of postage if a customer returns goods worth more than
€40 (approximately £35) within two weeks of purchase
date.
Tamebay, a community of eBay and Amazon sellers, is fiercely
opposed to the changes. In a post on its website, Tamebay’s
cofounder Chris Dawson writes, “The EU want to take away
the right to choose which territories you are willing to supply
to. The draft regulations insist that consumers from the entire
EU have the right to purchase from you and you have to ship to
them if possible, regardless of where in the EU they are
based.” Dawson also argues that “arranging courier
contracts to recover goods from any of the 27 EU countries at a
reasonable price will be beyond the resources of most
businesses.”
To put a figure on the costs, industry body IMRG estimates the
move could rack up an additional €10 billion per year in
delivery charges. The organisation’s chief executive James Roper
said in a statement that these amendments are “some of the
most disastrous for the online industry yet”. They would
“inevitably lead to significant price increases being
forced onto already hard-pressed consumers, pushing up prices
across all retail channels, and disadvantaging small and midsize
enterprises to the point where many would be forced to cease
trading online altogether.”
The Forum of Private Business has joined the fight in urging the
EU to abandon the proposals, calling them ill-advised,
“being obliged to sell to every single country in the EU
may not be a problem for multinational companies,” says the
Forum’s chief executive Phil Orford, “but it could spell
the death knell for countless SMEs in the ecommerce
industry.”
The draft amendments were voted through at the end of March. The
Directive will now enter a period of negotiations before final
amendments are agreed.
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