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Consumer's Telegramm European Edition
If you wish to be informed monthly about European consumer news, just subscribe our free newsletter.MAY 2004
Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori(European Consumer Centre, Italy)
GUARANTEE I
What is special about it in Germany
The statutory guarantee period of 2 years in Italy refers just to the purchases between consumers and tradesmen.This is different in Germany: there you can also have a claim to the regulations of the statutory guarantee when there is a purchase between consumer and consumer as well as between company and company.
However, this right can be overridden by clauses like, ‘The car is bought and consigned as viewed and tested. Any kind of guarantee because of eventual faults is excluded.’ Both contracting parties have to agree on this.
GUARANTEE II
What is special about it in Portugal
Basically the right of guarantee only refers to faults which have already been there when the good was bought or delivered. It excludes damages caused by the consumer. This is often very difficult or even impossible to prove.The new Italian guarantee right says that in the first 6 months after the delivery the tradesman has to prove that the good was not in defective condition at the time of consignment. In the following 18 months, however, the consumer must prove that the defect has not been caused by himself.
This is different in Portugal: there the burden of proof of the tradesman has been extended to the full guarantee period of 2 years.
TRAVELLING
Entry regulations in the USA
Since January, 5th 2004 Italian citizens who travel to the USA with a visa have to support the regulations about the biometrical features: two fingerprints from each applicant are electronically scanned and registered. From September, 30th 2004 on these data are going to be taken also from VWP travellers. (Visa Waiver Program= Visa for free entry).From October, 26th 2004 on Italian citizens can only enter the USA if they own a passport which is mechanically legible. This should be no problem for Italian tourists because all Italian passports issued after 1998 fulfill this criterion.
Moreover, from October 2004 on the VWP travellers’ children will have to have a passport of their own; it is not going to be accepted if they are registered in their parents’ passport.
Attention: When entering the USA those who choose the possibility of free entry (Visa Waiver Program) will sign a waiver to renounce any kind appeal in case of a possible rejection on the part of the American authority.
So if you want to play it safe you should ask for a entry visa at an American consulate.
E-COMMERCE
Many consumers are still distrustful
A recent survey of the Network of European Consumer Centers (“The European Online Marketplace: Consumer Complaints”) and the latest edition of the ‘Eurobarometer’ of the European Comission show a number of facts which inhibit the development of the Electronic Commerce. The studies are available in the European Consumer Center in Bolzano and on its homepage on the internet.THE CASE OF THE MONTH
It can be really annoying to buy a pair of shoes in a foreign country and to realize only after having returned home that there are two right shoes in the box!That happened to an Italian tourist duting a holiday in Paris. Not being able to speak French the woman tried to ask the left shoe instead of the right one by writing letters and Fax in Italian to the company. Unfortunately, the company did not react.
Only a letter in French written by the European Consumer Center helped: Finally the consumer can walk on with her new pair of shoes!
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