'Enforcement still in progress' six months on

The European Commission has not yet been informed on whether any corrective action has been taken against two unnamed Maltese airline ticket websites which six months ago were found to be in breach of EU consumer laws.

Publishing its second report on the "sweep" of airline ticket selling websites across the EU, the Commission said that almost 50 per cent of the websites found to be in breach of EU laws last November have now been corrected following enforcement action by national authorities.

However, in the case of the two Maltese websites no information was given as the Commission is still awaiting information from the Maltese authorities.

A spokesman for the Commission told The Times that Brussels is not yet aware of any action taken by the Maltese authorities in this area. "As is visible from the complete sweep report, enforcement work is still in progress in Malta and detailed information will be made available as soon as it has been completed," the spokesman said.

Pressed to state who is responsible for this exercise and why no details were given six months after the first warning was issued, the spokesman only said that this is an issue for the Maltese authorities to answer.

"We do not have any further information. The investigation in Malta is supposed to be handled by the Ministry of Finance, Economy and Investment," he said.

Questions sent by The Times to the ministry last week have remained unanswered despite reminders. The Times wanted to know what measures have been taken against the two websites to make sure that they are not breaking the law.

Originally, the Commission had given the two airline ticket websites operated by Maltese companies until January to come in line or face legal action and public shaming.

However, despite this warning, the website's details are still being protected as enforcement is still ongoing.

In its first report last November, the Commission had said that the Consumer and Competition division of the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communication investigated a total of 14 Maltese web sites offering airline tickets to consumers. Two websites were in breach of EU laws protecting consumers particularly the Misleading Advertising Directive and a Council Directive on Unfair Trading.

The Commission's exercise is based on checking websites for three key practices related to online sales including clear pricing. According to EU law a clear indication of the total price (including taxes, booking and credit card fees) should be given in the headline price first advertised; limitation on the availability of an offer should be indicated; and general contract terms must be clearly indicated, easily accessible and fair.