Price controls, air passenger rights, legal protection of consumers, or awareness-raising for more responsible consumption: These are some of the major tasks assigned to the Ministry for Consumer Protection, which was established by the Bettel government and is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Paulette Lenert.
This relatively new ministry is gradually expanding its authority and routinely checks companies in the food sector (producers, processors, distributors), the hotel and catering industry, as well as many other professionals such as shopkeepers and car dealerships. Its goal is to defend consumers’ interests in the age of the internet and smartphones, where everything is sometimes done in just a few clicks.
During the Autofestival, ministry agents conducted extensive checks and discovered a slew of violations at showrooms for 30 different car brands. Among other things, they discovered seven instances where the pricing at the showroom did not match the price on the internet, as well as two instances where dealerships offered loans despite not being on the ministry’s official list.
Overall, “we are quite satisfied with the result. There is no evident intent to mislead the consumer and the offences are minor,” says the head of communications at the Ministry for Consumer Protection. A more serious problem, though, “is if consumers commit themselves to an amount of which they are unaware” while signing for a new car. This can happen as result of postponed delivery deadlines, exposing consumers to the danger of a variable VAT rate. Inspectors confiscated all sales documents from seven dealerships, which were then meticulously scrutinised by ministry lawyers.
According to the ministry, “at least six” of the 26 dealers assessed during the Autofestival will be rechecked in the coming weeks or months. It has already been decided that the administration’s inspection division will be increased from five to seven agents, and the Ministry may soon have the capacity to intervene more directly in the event of on-the-ground violations.
Until the end of 2022, a police officer was seconded to the ministry to report serious offences to the public prosecutor’s office. In their place, three officers “will be sworn in within the next two to three weeks” and will then be “able to act as judicial police officers.” From now on, if they discover an offence during a check at a professional’s premises, they will now be required to “report the matter to the public prosecutor,” the Ministry for Consumer Protection announced. At this point, the courts would take over the case.
The Ministry obviously conducts unannounced checks throughout the year, but in the case of sectoral checks, it is keen to collaborate closely with professionals. In this case, they are notified by their federation, which is contacted ahead of time by the Ministry for Consumer Protection.
The Ministry works closely with the Luxembourg Consumer Protection Association (ULC) on all consumer matters in Luxembourg as well as with the European Consumer Centre (ECC), whose mission is to inform and assist consumers on a cross-border scale for a whole range of issues, such as online purchases, mobile phone rates, the sale or rental of a vehicle or property, etc.
