Consumer's Telegram March 2018

Insert of n. 22 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre Italy - Bolzano office)

Invitation to Conference: The European Small Claims procedure

Taking legal action against a person or a company in another EU country seems to be difficult and complicated. Therefore the European Small Claims procedure has come into being: this court procedure was introduced by the EU in 2009 and is an alternative to procedures in single member states. It should make access to court easier for European citizens and should help to solve cross-border disputes. The European Consumer Centre Italy organises in collaboration with the Autonomous Region Trentino/South Tyrol and Trento University a conference in order to increase public knowledge of the procedure. The conference will take place on Friday, 9th March 2018 with start at 9 am, hall 1, at the Faculty of Law, via Rosmini no 27, in Trento. We would like to invite all our readers to participate in this conference.
Register online here.

Après-Ski... in hospital

If you want to spend your winter holiday abroad in the near future, you should make sure that you are adequately insured in case of an unlucky accident on the slopes. You might have to pay some thousand euros out of your own pockets for a helicopter rescue! During a temporary stay in a EU country you are entitled to have access to health care services by showing your health insurance card, however at the same conditions as provided for citizens of the country in which you find yourself. In Austria public health system refunds only a lump sum of 849.93 Euro for leisure accidents - and this only when seriours injuries occur. Everyone who will soon set off for winter holidays in another EU member state, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, should ask oneself if one is adequately insured in case of an unlucky accident on the slopes. The advice of the ECC is as follows: Before you start your holiday you should absolutely make sure that you are already insured. This is, for example, also possible via credit card or being a member of a leisure-, sports- or rescueclub. Some ski resorts offer an appropriate insurance for an extra amount of the ski pass, too. For more information, please contact the European Consumers Centre Italy – Bolzano office: info@euroconsumatori.org or call 0471 980939.

New brochures from ECC Germany

Our colleagues' website of the European Consumer Centre Germany provides new brochures that can be downloaded for free. This website covers subjects such as rights of travellers going by remote bus, train or rented car across Europe.

Cash transfer service Western Union compensates victims of fraud

For years the European Consumer Centre Italy has been pointing out that cash transfer companies often face the risk of frauds and are not suitable for sending money to unknown persons: It is not possible to cancel the transaction and above all to find out who actually picked up the amount due. The ECC worked, for example, for the case of Johann, who had found his great love Maria on the internet. Unfortunately, Maria was in Africa and Johann was bound to help Maria to pay the transfer to Italy. He had already paid more than 10,000 Euros before the ECC was able to convince him that there was no sign of love but only fraud! Western Union is one of the most well-known cash transfer companies and compensates now persons, who became victims of fraud between 1st January 2004 and 19th January 2017. Affected customers have to fill in an online form within 31st May 2018 and add copies of useful documentation; each transfer must be listed separately. You will find more detailed information on our web site www.euroconsumatori.org.