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Consumer Ombudsman´s prioritisation criteria for supervision

According to the Act on the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority, “the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority for consumer-related issues, and the Consumer Ombudsman, must have an operational focus on sectors of considerable importance to consumers or in which problems regarding the status of consumers can be assumed to be most common.”

The Act sets a framework within which the Consumer Ombudsman prioritises the issues to be considered on the basis of subject, the threshold for intervention, range of options and available resources.

Choice of subject

In order to identify sectors and consumer problems that are important from the consumer perspective, the Consumer Ombudsman monitors and analyses, among other things, the following matters:

  • Societally important phenomena that have a bearing on the status of consumers
  • Consumer enquiries and complaints – the Consumer Ombudsman and Consumer Advisory Service receive altogether approximately 80,000 a year. Enquiries and complaints are entered in the consumer administration´s database and utilised in the Consumer Ombudsman´s supervisory work. Notifications are not responded to individually.
    Further advice and service in consumer issues   
  • The EU´s consumer markets scoreboard, which includes, among other things: a consumer survey concerning 50 sectors
  • Changes in legislation and the establishment of new legislation in practice
  • Effects of changes in the structure of various sectors, competition, pricing, contract terms or customer service practices on the status of consumers

Intervention threshold

The Consumer Ombudsman estimates the scope and impacts of the matter to be considered on the basis of the following criteria:

Damage to consumers

  • the phenomenon affects a large number of consumers
  • the phenomenon has great financial significance to consumers
  • the phenomenon requires safeguarding the position of a vulnerable consumer group
  • the phenomenon involves a service necessary to citizens; it is impossible to do without it
  • the phenomenon causes other damage to consumers; if it became more common, it would weaken the position or rights of consumers

Precedent value

  • precedents are created as a guideline on how to interpret new legislation
  • policies are defined for new legal issues

Discipline

  • the company has an existing prohibition or commitment, which it has failed to observe
  • the company violates consumer protection legislation, even though its activities have already been subject to an intervention
  • the company blatantly violates the law and shows indifference to the principles of consumer protection

Measures and available resources

The Consumer Ombudsman selects a measure enabling the best possible effectiveness to be achieved in light of the situation with the resources available. Options include, for example:

  • Provision of information to the company or entire sector
  • Consumer education
  • Cooperation with and lobbying of the industry organisation to change the practices of companies
  • Request for clarification sent to the individual company in question
  • Request for commitment from the company
  • Prohibition
  • Petition to the Market Court
  • Consumer assistance in court
  • Collective complaint
  • Class action

Keywords: Consumer ombudsman