Month: November 2013

(Continuous report of third quarter of 2013)(Prague, November 19, 2013) CTIA carried out 79 inspections at providers and intermediaries of consumer credit in non-banking sector. Inspectors detected breaches of legal regulations in 45 cases, including 31 cases of violations of one or more provisions of the Act on Consumer Protection. Most shortcomings related to advertisements on provision of consumer credit and prohibited use of deceitful commercial practices. A total of 6 inspected subjects provided or mediated consumer credit without the appr...

(Report of third quarter of 2013)(Prague, November 12, 2013) Inspections of supplies of solid fuels to consumers, especially coal, belong to the most difficult activities in terms of organisation. Besides inspections directly at workplaces and coal warehouses, the Czech Trade Inspection Authority also carries out inspections of distribution of orders both based on consumers’ complaints and its own knowledge of damaging consumer rights by traders supplying lower amount of fuel. In order to prove unlawful conduct it is necessary to ensure direct...

(Interim report of third quarter of 2013)(Prague, November 8, 2013) Inspections of online offer and sale of goods as well as provision of services continued in the third quarter of 2013. During the respective period, 250 e-shops were inspected, including 188 that breached generally binding legal regulations. The high proportion of shortcomings detected within these inspections cannot be considered the real picture of e-commerce in the Czech Republic. It is a result of continuous monitoring of internet offers of goods and services. Inspection ac...

(Final report of 2013)(Prague, November 7, 2013) From April to the end of September, inspectors of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority checked more than 1,500 sellers of various goods and providers of services. Attention was especially paid to places frequently visited by both Czech and foreign tourists. Results are not too optimistic. “As our inspectors found, more than one third of inspected entrepreneurs failed to meet their obligations stipulated by laws and damaged interests of consumers. Except for principles of fairness of sale that wer...

(Interim report of third quarter of 2013)(Prague, November 5, 2013) All CTIA inspectorates participated in inspections of services provided by tour operators and travel agencies in the third quarter. Inspections were also based on submissions by consumers. “The number of detected violations has decreased by almost 25%. Despite this fact, consumers cannot be satisfied with services of certain tour operators and travel agencies. In general, in every third of them they faced violations of their rights that most frequently concerned unfair commerci...

(Continuous report of 3rd quarter of 2013)(Prague, October 31, 2013) Inspections of sales demonstration events also continued in 3rd quarter of 2013. As from the start of the year, the Czech Trade Inspection Authority has inspected a total of 292 sales demonstration events or sales contracts concluded at such events and detected shortcomings in 213 inspections. A total of 133 fines amounting to 18.8 million CZK were imposed within the respective period. Appropriate trade licencing offices cancelled trade licences of four companies organizing sa...