About 50 per cent of all websites in the European Union and Norway selling tickets disappoint their clients, according to European Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kouneva.

She was speaking on November 14 at the announcement of the results of an investigation into misleading advertisements and inappropriate practices in online air ticket sales. The investigation, which assessed compliance with consumer protection laws, was carried out on EU territory and with the participation of the national authorities of 15 EU member states and Norway.

The Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (CPEN), which came into being at the end of 2006, will further investigate cases were irregularities were found.

The initial investigation was co-ordinated by the European Commission, which intends further checks in 2008.

Kouneva said that she was giving a “most serious warning” to the companies to get their houses in order.

She warned that at the end of the four-month term that they have been given to respond, she would not hesitate to go further and name and publicly censure firms that persisted in breaking the law. These companies could face prosecution.

The measures cover the websites of leading European airlines, low-cost air carriers, as well as other websites selling air tickets.

“Whether they are in Brussels, Barcelona, Munich or Manchester, consumers deserve clear and correct price setting, without surprises hidden in the fine print of the conditions of the agreement,” Kouneva said. The announced numbers revealed that there is a serious problem in the airline industry, which, according to her, has a European dimension and has to be treated on European level.

Problems were found in the prices, contractual conditions and clarity of the conditions on offer on the websites.

During the week of September 24 to 28, the national law enforcement authorities of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Finland, France, Sweden and Norway thoroughly checked 447 websites to assess their compliance with EU consumer protection law. Of these, 226 were flagged as in some way not obeying the law. Sixty-three of these were cross-border cases and were flagged for follow up action through the CPEN by co-operation among national authorities in different EU member states. The rest will be followed up at national level. So far, websites participated in the investigation on a voluntary basis.

The focus of the EU exercise was not fact finding but to achieve enforcement.

Consumer rights have to be enforced because they are no good if they stay just on paper, the Consumer Protection Commission said in a media statement.

CPEN decided to check websites selling air tickets because these were one of the leading areas for complaints to European Consumer Centres (ECC). The ECC-Network is a EU-wide network providing information on cross-border shopping to consumers, ensuring that they are aware of their rights and giving support in the event of a complaint.

Fifty-four Bulgarian websites selling air tickets were checked. Eighteen were found to be committing breaches. They would not be further followed by the CPEN but will be watched by national authorities. The highest number of faults was in Belgian-based websites, where 46 out of 48 checked showed some irregularities. Of Norwegian websites, 22 out of 31 were problematic, of Danish 25 out of 62, Swedish, 16 out of 32, French 13 out of 31, Portuguese 11 out of 16, Finnish 20 out of 30, Lithuanian 23 out of 40 and Italian, nine out of 11. None of the 13 Greek, eight Cyprus or 20 Austrian websites selling air tickets that were checked showed any irregularities.

The number of internet sites that will be further investigated on national level is 163.

This was the first EU common law enforcement action on consumers’ rights. A law enforcement phase will follow, in which authorities will contact airlines requiring from them to correct their web sites or to offer explanations. Successful prosecutions could result in fines and orders to shut down sites.

The EU air travel market covers about 700 million passengers a year, including internal and external flights. This market is also highly digitalised.