The Consumer Ombudsman is seeking a preliminary ruling from the Market Court on the maximum amount of costs that a consumer may incur for making a telephone call to a business in connection with an existing contract or a previous purchase. According to the Consumer Ombudsman, EU regulation requires that a call made in connection with an existing contract should not incur additional costs compared to the costs the consumer would incur if calling a normal telephone number.
The case before the Market Court concerns the interpretation of a national provision on the pricing of a call concerning an existing contract for a consumer item. In the view of the Consumer Ombudsman, the national provision must be interpreted primarily in the manner intended by European Union law.
The aim of the regulation is to ensure that consumers can exercise their legal rights effectively and at reasonable cost. A call concerning an existing contract should not incur additional costs compared to the costs the consumer would incur for a call to a normal telephone number, for example to a friend.
”For many people, the telephone is an important channel for dealing with a company on contractual matters. It is essential for consumers to be able to access their rights, for example by calling a company to discuss a product defect without incurring additional costs for the consumer.”
Business-rate telephone numbers add extra costs to telephone-based customer services dealing with existing contracts
Businesses commonly use national subscriber numbers known as business-rate numbers for their customer services. This typically means that the consumer incurs additional costs compared to the cost they would incur if they called normal telephone numbers. For example, calls to business-rate numbers are not usually included in in the call packages for mobile phone subscriptions.
In the view of the Consumer Ombudsman, the national provision must be interpreted in the light of EU law as meaning that a call made to discuss an existing contract must not involve more than the normal costs that the consumer would incur if calling a normal telephone number.
Already in 2018, the Consumer Ombudsman took the initiative to amend the regulation on calls to discuss existing contracts so that the law could address the high pricing of business-rate numbers. However, no progress was made on the issue. The law was amended in 2020, but the concerns raised by the Consumer Ombudsman were still not sufficiently addressed.
The Consumer Ombudsman therefore considers it important that the case now be resolved in court. The application concerns Telia Finland Oyj.
Further information
Providing a telephone number subject to an additional fee to customers (in Finnish)
Consumer Ombudsman: Legislative reforms needed for the pricing of telephone-based customer services