On Wednesday 18 January 2023, the European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Luxembourg announced that it has set a new record on the number of cases handled in a year.
In 2022, the services of the ECCL were once again required by consumers, with a total of 4,110 cases handled, marking a new record with the exception of the COVID-19-affected year in 2020. Throughout the year, the team continued to inform, advise and assist consumers in their cross-border disputes and thereby enabled consumers to recover the sum of €568,100. This amount was obtained in cases where the ECC either aided consumers in being reimbursed or where it helped consumers in defending themselves against an unjustified claim.
These cross-border disputes concern the following areas:
1. Tourism, including the following areas: package travel, accommodation, rail, bus and boat travel – representing 28% of complaints handled;
2. Air transport, representing 14% of complaints handled;
3. Purchasing and the repair of used cars, representing 4.5% of complaints handled.
The ECC also analysed, on the basis of the disputes submitted, that the sellers most often involved in cross border disputes are located in Germany, France, the
Netherlands and, in 4th place, Belgium.
