Europe-wide advertising scam affects Maltese companies

Several Maltese businesses have, of late, fallen victim to misleading advertising at the hands of a Spanish company operating under the trade-name of European City Guide.

The issue was raised at the European Parliament by MEP Simon Busuttil who appealed to the European Commission to intervene in order to stop this scam and help the Maltese companies that were tricked.

Following Dr Busuttil's intervention, the EU commissioner responsible for consumer protection will be writing to the Spanish authorities about the issue.

The Times is informed that the Spanish company appears to rely on misleading advertising giving other companies the impression that it will enter their company details, free of charge, into its guide or business directory. Subsequently, however, on the basis of the "small print", the European City Guide expects payments in the region of €1,000 (Lm437) for the inclusion in, as well as a copy of, its business directory.

It now results that many Maltese small businesses have signed up to this "free offer", only to find out that it was not free at all.

Dr Busuttil told The Times it appears that Maltese businesses are not the first to have been targeted by this misleading advertising campaign and that the same has happened in other EU countries such as the United Kingdom and France.

It also appears that the company in question was already fined and temporarily closed down by a Catalan court some years back. However, it is now back in business.

Taking up the issue immediately, the European Commission said it has received a number of similar complaints relating to the practices of the European City Guide.

Addressing Dr Busuttil's claims, the EU Commissioner responsible for Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou, said that practices such as these amount to misleading advertising and go against EU laws. However, he said the Commission has no powers to enforce its laws against individuals as this is the competence of national enforcement authorities in the countries where such schemes operate.

"It is for the competent law courts or public enforcement authorities of the member states to decide in each case whether a commercial communication is to be considered misleading and to take appropriate enforcement actions. The Commission could only start infringement proceedings against member states if it became evident that they are not applying the EU directives."

Although the Commission is not able to take direct action against companies such as the European City Guide, it will intervene on this issue.

Mr Kyprianou said his services decided to directly contact the Spanish authorities in order for them to look into the case and take the appropriate measures.