The Government has submitted to the Parliament a Bill through which consumers will see increased security to malpractice. Specifically, Law 3 / 1991 of January 10 on Unfair Competition, Law 34/1988 of November 11 on Publicity, Royal Legislative Decree 1 / 2007 of November 16, which approves The text of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users (Consumers Act) and other laws such as Law 7 / 1996 of January 15th on Retail Trade will expand their spectrum of action, so that the "siege" to the citizen will be much restricted by the Law. More rigors in information, less glossy, impressive phrases, an uniform post-sale service of quality for each type of service and the elimination of phone spam to help consumers be freer.
The reform of legislation affecting the consumer believes that the economic behavior of an individual can be altered either by false information, or messages that even being true, can lead to error. In addition, it considers unfair and aggressive those behaviors that can significantly reduce, by harassment, coercion, force or undue influence, the freedom of choice or the behavior of consumers in relation to the good or service being offered.
The bill transposes, in turn, two European rules: Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 11th of May 2005 on unfair trade practices of companies towards consumers in the European market and the Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 12th of December 2006 concerning misleading and comparative advertising.
It will be illegal, among other ones, the following behaviors:
-The comparison of public activity, performance or the internal or external establishments to a third party when such activity relates to ends that are not similar, relevant or comparable.
-The withholding of necessary information for consumers to adopt a knowingly economic behavior.
-The transmission of information in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous way or in a non appropriate moment.
-To induce consumers to make immediate decisions on the pretext that a good or service is only available for a limited period, when it is not.
-To present rights given to consumers by law as a distinctive feature of the offer by the employer or professional.
Apart from increasing the safety of consumers, the reform seeks to give legal certainty to companies that legitimately compete in the free market against those who carry out practices that damage the good faith, lacking professional ethics; which distort the spontaneous economic behavior of consumers.
Therefore, the Project also provides a type of action to be carried out by the government. This will be realized through the promotion of codes of conduct between business and professional organizations that help to minimize the unfair advertising practices of firms and raise the level of consumer protection. In the development of these codes it may also be counted with the participation of consumer organizations. These guidelines will be in any case within the orbit of the current law, so that they can not cut rights or add guarantees not provided by enforceable legal regulations. In this sense, independent monitoring bodies will be created to ensure compliance with the commitments of the members, which should establish effective systems for resolving complaints.