BRUSSELS, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Wednesday proposed new rules to tackle unfair online commercial practices and give itself powers to directly investigate violations and impose fines of up to 6 percent of a company's annual worldwide turnover.
The proposed Digital Fairness Act targets manipulative marketing, opaque pricing and subscription traps. A parallel revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation would strengthen enforcement in large-scale cases significantly affecting consumers across the European Union's (EU) single market.
Together, the measures could save EU consumers up to 13.7 billion euros (about 15.3 billion U.S. dollars) annually, the Commission said.
The Digital Fairness Act would ban manipulative tactics known as "dark patterns," including false claims that products are almost sold out, and require clearer pricing for purchases using virtual in-app currencies.
For cultural and sporting events using dynamic pricing, companies would have to display current prices in real time and the highest possible price to consumers waiting in virtual queues.
Consumers would be able to turn off addictive design features encouraging excessive spending. The proposal would also ban gambling-like features for minors, require influencers to disclose commercial content and restrict unfair personalized advertising and pricing targeting minors or exploiting sensitive data.
Other provisions would make digital subscriptions easier to cancel, tackle unwanted automatic renewals and ensure access to human customer service.
The enforcement proposal would also require non-EU companies to appoint a legal representative in the bloc to cooperate with authorities. The Commission currently facilitates coordinated consumer enforcement actions but cannot directly enforce these rules.
The proposals will be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. ■
