Consumer Rights

The main objective of the Consumer Rights Division is to benefit consumers by promoting consumers rights and by ensuring that their rights are known and respected.

The principal aims of the Consumer Rights Division are:

• to ensure that consumers rights are not violated
• to promote information and market transparency
• to decide on measures against unfair trade practices

The Consumer Rights Division enforces the following legislative Acts:

•  Act No. 57/2005, on the surveillance of unfair business practices and market transparency (also available in Danish )
•  Act No. 30/2002, on electronic commerce and other electronic services 
•  Act No. 141/2001 on injunction and litigation to protect overall consumers interest
•  Act No. 46/2000, on door-to-door sales and distance contracts 
•  Act No. 23/1997, on contracts on a timeshare basis
•  Act No. 121/1994, on consumer credit 
•  Act No. 80/1994, on package tours
•  Regulation 156/1995 on Package Tours

 

• Rules No. 366/2008 on sales or other retail activities where goods are sold at a reduced price
• Rules No. 385/2007 on price labelling of automobile fuel
• Rules No. 384/2007 on the itemization of price of medication sold by prescription
• Notification No. 456/2006 on appointed authorities and organizations who are entitled to initiate injunctions for the overall interests of consumers

 

A case on the basis of the aforementioned Acts can be initiated by a notification from a consumer, complaint from a competitor or organizations or at the Consumer’s Agency’s own initiative.

Consumers can submit notifications to the Agency by registering their own account at the Consumer Agency’s e-Government On-Line portal on the Internet, by submitting an anonymous notification at its website, by telephone or in writing. A company that requests to have a case initiated does so in writing describing the main facts and submitting all relevant data.

Not all submitted notifications and complaints are accepted for process by the Consumer Agency and only those having legally protected interests can be parties to such cases.

Following the gathering of evidence and due process most cases of the Consumer Rights Division result in recommendations or settlements. Part of the cases result in formal decisions and bans. The decisions are only available in Icelandic cf. ákvarðanir.

The decisions of the Consumer Agency can be appealed to the Consumer Appeals Committee which is an independent committee. The committee’s conclusions are only available in Icelandic cf. úrskurðir.