The European Commission plans to ban ten manipulative practices used by websites and apps to encourage consumers to spend more, continue their subscriptions, or change their decisions. This is presented in a draft of the Digital Justice Act, provided by Euronews.
The proposal, which is expected to be introduced on Wednesday, aims to ban practices such as false reporting of lack of products in stock, pre-elected additional options and ongoing windows urging users to change their decisions.
The draft also envisions the ban on cash prize boxes (lotboxes) and mechanisms favouring players who spend most on children’s video games. Likewise, companies will be forced to offer a clear button to cut subscriptions, while violations may be punished by fines of up to six percent of the annual global circulation.
According to the Commission’s impact assessment, new regulations can save consumers 88.4 billion euros in financial losses during the period 2025%2035. If time lost because of unjust practices is calculated, the annual profit is estimated at 13.7 billion euros. Meanwhile, repeated costs for businesses are projected to total around 678m euros annually.
A European Commission spokesman told Euronews Next that the institution does not comment on the leaks of documents, Telegrafi broadcast.
The draft aims to replace the 2005 directive for Law Trade Practices with a regulation that will be implemented directly in all 27 EU member states.
Ten Practices Targeted to Ban
At the center of the proposal is a new list of ten practices known as dark models (dark patterns), which will be considered unfair under any circumstances. This means that authorities will no longer need to testify to the damage in any case separately.
List includes:
The difficulty of suspending subscriptions compared with initial registration.
Hide prices or terms of automatic renovation.
To create a false impression that there are no other options.
A false or unqualified claims to the availability and popularity of a product.
Repeat warnings during the payment process of a product are toward depletion.
Pre-elections of extra products or larger amounts.
Presenting the rejection of an offer as the wrong choice.
Continued demand for changing a decision the consumer has already made.
Using confused formulas with double denials.
False reports generating the impression that someone contacted the user.
The commission will be able to expand this list with new manipulative practices, without having to address lawmakers again.
The proposal also prohibits the so-called hidden extension when mandatory tariffs appear only in the final phase of the payment. Also prohibited will be the false discounts ʹwaste/nowʹ, calculated on the price recommended by the manufacturer rather than on the real price of competitors, as well as fraudulent claims by vendors using the dropping model.
Greater Protection for Children
Children will take special protection from certain practices in video games. The payment boxes and mechanisms paid to win will be banned for minors.
Virtual coins used inside the games will have to display their real value in money. For children, these functions will be disabled as pre-election, except when parents give approval.
Advertisements based on juvenile profile will be banned for all businesses, and not only for large platforms already covered by the Digital Services Act.
In the meantime, all users will have the right to disable automatic content play, reports that do not relate to their activity, rewards based on the continuation of apps, and chatbot functions that simulate personal relationships to keep people engaged.
New Submission and Artificial Intelligence Rules
According to the draft, free trial periods cannot automatically be converted into payment subscriptions without the consumer’s active approval.
Companies will also be forced to announce customers before automatic subscription renovations and enable communication with a real customer service employee.
For the first time in the EU’s consumer protection legislation, the draft also stipulates rules for intelligence-based purchase agents. Users will be able to decide which purchases should be approved by them, while agents will be forced to show when recommendations are sponsored.
The regulation is expected to take effect 12 months after the adoption, but initially must take the consent of the European Parliament and member states.
Germany Expresses Reserve for Proposal
The initiative is already facing objections from Berlin. In a document on October 14th, reported by Agent Europe, the German government argues that existing directives for consumer protection must be changed, rather than establishing a new comprehensive law.
Germany has also estimated that not enough has been witnessed in converting the directive to the Law of Trade Practices into a regulation.
Commissioner for Consumer Protection Michael McGrath, who is leading this initiative, has tried to calm the industry’s concerns.
Speaking at a retail sector summit in Brussels last year, he described the law as a better initiative of consumers and businesses, arguing it would help reduce the administrative burden for companies. /Telegraphy/