Consumer Code of Conduct for Electronic Commerce
No. 31619 (Government Gazette B 969/22.3.2017)
Consumer Code of Conduct for Electronic Commerce.
First Part. Article 1. Purpose and Scope.
- The Code sets out the general principles and defines the minimum rules of professional ethics and ethical conduct to be observed towards the consumer by businesses.
- It shall apply to transactions under contracts for the sale of goods or provision of services concluded between consumers and suppliers for remuneration entirely online, i. e. by electronic means at a distance, without the simultaneous physical presence of both parties (B2C transactions).
- The Code concerns self-regulatory rules of businesses active in e-commerce addressed to consumers and in no case replaces either EU or Greek legislation on e-commerce and consumer protection.
Article 2. Definitions.
- For the purposes of the Code, the following terms shall have the meaning given to them below:
- a) "Business Entity active in the field of "e-business" (hereinafter referred to as business/or company) means legal or natural persons established in Greece that provide products and/or services to consumers in Greece and/or abroad, legally operating directly and/or as intermediaries providing services for remuneration directly or indirectly by electronic means at a distance and at the consumer's personal choice.
(b) 'by electronic means at a distance' means services and products provided by businesses and accepted by consumers through electronic processing equipment provided, transmitted and received entirely via the Internet and/or mobile networks/text applications).
- c) For the rest of the terms, the definitions in Law 2251/1994, as in force, in P.D. 131/2003 and in the Code of Consumer Ethics of Article 7 of Law 3297/2004, as in force, apply.
- In case of doubt, the definitions of the applicable legislation shall prevail.
Article 3. General principles and obligationsof online store.
- General principles. The Code is governed by the principles of consumer protection, transparency, impartiality, technological neutrality, professional ethics, ethical conduct and respect for privacy, protection of personal data and protection of vulnerable population groups as specifically referred to in Articles 4 and 5 hereof.
- Minimum information for consumers.
- The business entity shall ensure that the consumer is provided with pre-contractual information so that it can be fully and accurately and clearly informed of the following:
- Full company name, registered office, postal address, VAT number, contact telephones/email address.
- GEMI registration number.
iii. Main characteristics of the products sold and quality of services provided (e. g. total price including VAT or other taxes, shipping costs, or any return costs of the product, any additional charges, terms and methods of payment, guarantees, size-dimensions of the product), as well as means of payment.
iv. Availability of services and products and the period within which the supplier undertakes to deliver the goods or provide the services.
- Characteristics of charges, possible discount packages or special offers.
vi. Terms of withdrawal of the contract as well as its termination or its cancellation, as specifically mentioned in Article 6 hereof.
vii. The possibility of out-of-court settlement of their disputes and information on the competent authorities for consumer disputes, which suppliers are bound or obliged to use to resolve disputes. In the absence of such a commitment or obligation, suppliers shall in any event specify whether they will make use of the relevant operators
viii. The possibility for online alternative dispute resolution as specifically mentioned in Article 8 hereof.
- The terms of after-sales service, any commercial guarantees (content, duration and extent of territorial validity), and the liability of the seller for actual defects and lack of agreed properties, in accordance with Articles 534 etc of Civil Code.
- The possible need for frequent maintenance of the products or the existence of spare parts of particularly high cost in relation to the current price of these products.
- The purpose of the processing, the recipients or categories of recipients of the data and the existence of the right of access and objection, as specifically referred to in Article 5B/para. 5 hereof.
xii. Codes of conduct or any trust marks binding them.
xiii. The above information to the consumer must be comprehensible, legal, true, up-to-date, easily accessible to all, including persons with disabilities, and verifiable and must be mandatory in Greek and optionally in another language.
2. The terms of the contract for the provision of services and/or the sale of products must be posted on the company's website in a place that can be easily accessed by the consumer.
- In cases where an order request is submitted by the consumer, the company is obliged to deliver / send immediately an acknowledgement of receipt of the order request, which clearly indicates the date of receipt and confirmation of the order.
4. Under the responsibility of the business entity, it is made clear to the consumer the time when the contract is considered to have been concluded, in accordance with the applicable legislation The basic contractual terms should be available to consumers in advance and in such a way that the order cannot be registered if the user is not aware of them beforehand. After the conclusion of the contract, the company must refrain from any action that entails modification of its terms, in particular to modify the price or inform about the unavailability of the ordered product or service. - The consumer has sufficient information about the progress of his order.
6. The business itself, in case it finds that the consumer was not properly informed or the conclusion of the contract was not made with the consumer’s explicit consent, makes every effort to resolve the issue within a reasonable time.
7. The staff of the e-commerce sector that comes into contact with consumers for the provision of services and/or the sale of products must be fully informed about the above mentioned and answer consumers' reasonable questions clearly and accurately. - Advertising – Promotion.
- Advertising and promotion must comply with applicable law.
- In any event, the following should apply:
- Advertising messages and all information provided by business entities must bear characteristics of clarity as to the identity of the business entity, the properties and the final price of the advertised product, or, if this is not possible, the way it is calculated, in a language that is simple and understandable to the consumer; so that the latter is able to assess the information provided and safely make the correct decision at his discretion regarding the purchase of products or services.
- Advertisements or other offers must refrain from misleading or aggressive practices taken before, during and after a commercial transaction of a specific product or service, which directly or inductively is likely to mislead the consumer about the product or service displayed.
iii. The company's staff who comes into direct contact with the consumer does not mislead or seek to mislead consumers in any way with acts or omissions by giving false impressions about the service or product provided.
iv. The company does not provide incomplete or inaccurate information about the possibility of providing the service or selling the product to the consumer. - Any advertising and promotional action specifically addressed to an audience of minors may not incite them, directly or indirectly, to acts of violence, to the use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, toxic substances or to any form of behavior dangerous to their safety and health.
vi. Business entities comply with the age restrictions set by the current legislation regarding the promotion and sale of specific product categories.
vii. Any advertising and promotion aimed at persons with disabilities should ensure its accessibility to them
Article 4.Protection of minors and others vulnerable groups of the population
1. The company's staff does not take advantage of the weakness of consumers belonging to vulnerable groups, such as elderly people, minors, people who do not understand the Greek language well, or people with disabilities. The Company shall provide careful, accurate and objective descriptions of products and services specifically addressed to such persons in a way that is understandable, comprehensible and fully accessible to them, so as not to mislead them as to the true size, value, nature, purpose, durability, performance and price of the product or service advertised.
- Especially for underage consumers, all business entities shall ensure - as far as possible - the formation of appropriate terms of access to their websites, as provided for in the applicable laws on a case-by-case basis
Article 5. Security of transactions and Privacy Policy.
- Security of transactions
- Business entities shall take care of the security of transactions carried out using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
- Business entities , in this context and in accordance with the provisions of the applicable legislation, make every effort to use themselves or their partners appropriate tools and measures depending on the field of their business activity and the type of data they collect and process (personal or not) and apply all appropriate measures, to provide the security of electronic transactions (proportional to the various stages of their completion) and data (personal or not) they collect and process, as well as to inform the transacting parties about the basic parameters of the security and confidentiality used, with special reference to the terms of use of the website.
- Business entities use the appropriate technical measures to ensure the privacy of the data they collect and process as the law permits and according to the nature of the products and services they provide.
- Protection of personal data
- Business entities must have and implement a comprehensible, true, legal, easily accessible and up-to-date Privacy Policy and inform consumers as required by the relevant legislation and the instructions of the Personal Data Protection Authority regarding such Policy.
- It is not permitted to collect, store or process the data that the law accounts as sensitive, i.e. the data concerning racial or national origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership in an association, union and trade union, the health, social welfare as well as those related to criminal prosecutions or convictions unless the terms and conditions set by the law and the Personal Data Protection Authority are met.
- The collection, processing, storage and use of other personal data is only done when this is permitted by the applicable legal framework and always in accordance with the conditions provided for therein
- Specifically regarding the use of "cookies of all kinds", their installation should be carried out after appropriate information of the consumer and on the basis of the consumer’s consent, in accordance with the law and the relevant instructions of the Personal Data Protection Authority
- In case of non-consent/acceptance of "cookies", the companies allow, as long as it is technologically possible, the continuation of the use of the website by the consumer, without the sending of cookies.
- Business entities ensure that the personal data collected are not disclosed or transmitted to third parties, without the prior information or consent of the person concerned, and/or in the cases provided for by law, always in accordance with the provisions of data protection legislation of a personal nature.
- Business entities respect the wish of consumers not to be included in records that have the purpose of making unsolicited commercial communications with human intervention (calling) for the promotion and supply of products or services, as long as they have declared this to the provider available to the public.
- Business entities provide consumers with the opportunity to choose whether they wish to receive advertising messages and any type of newsletter and, in case of acceptance, to have the option of freely withdrawing their consent and businesses to have the obligation not to re-promote new advertising messages and any kind of newsletters from now on (unless there is renewed consent or the statutory provisions are fulfilled again).
- The consumer has the right to have direct access to information on the subjects of his personal data, to object to the use of these in future promotional actions, to request and confirm their partial or total deletion from the company's records, to request the correction or completing them, to be informed of the time and manner of the initial acquisition of his personal data by the company as well as to be informed of the applied methods of personal data protection.
Article: 6. Right of withdrawal for consumers
- The consumer has an inalienable right of unjustified and irrevocable withdrawal in accordance with the provisions of the current legislation.
- Before the consumer is contractually bound, the supplier must inform the consumer, in a clear and understandable way, in the same language, of the right to exercise an unjustified and unjustified withdrawal within the legally prescribed period of fourteen (14) days, which starts at the time provides for each case by law, as well as for the terms, conditions, exceptions and the procedure for exercising the right of withdrawal, but also for the consequences of the exercise, taking into account the specificity of each product/service and providing of and sample withdrawal form.
Article 7. Consumer service
- The company ensures that it has appropriate mechanisms (via telephone and/or e-mail) and sufficient staff to deal with consumer service, making reasonable efforts to inform them about their requests within the legal time limits per case .
- When the communication is made through a call center, the company ensures that the consumer is not left on hold excessively and in any case the charge for the call does not exceed the charges applicable for civil calls. When communication is made through an online contact form or the company's e-mail address, special care is taken to send a response within a reasonable period of time after receiving the relevant customer request.
Article 8. Electronic Alternative resolution of consumer disputes
- Business entities inform consumers of the possibility of alternative resolution of consumer disputes that have arisen from contracts for the electronic sale of products or the provision of services by using the ADR entities registered in the Registry in accordance with joint ministerial decision 70330/2015.
- Business entities , whether committed to use the ADR or not, provide an easily accessible, through their websites, electronic link to the pan-EU platform for electronic resolution of consumer disputes (ADR platform), in application of the provisions of Regulation (EU) 524/ 2013) through which consumers submit their complaint, then forwarding it to the relevant AED body."
Second Part. Article 2.
- The Code is published on the websites of businesses in a place where the consumer can easily find and access it.
- The Code does not limit the right of supplier associations to impose additional obligations and disciplinary or other measures on their members
- Staff of business entities inform consumers of the existence of the Code and inform them of the ways in which they can find the text.
Third Part. Article 3.
This decision is valid from its publication in the Government Gazette.
This decision to be published in the Government Gazette.
Athens, March 15, 2017
The minister,
Dimos Papadimitriou.