FROM THE MINISTER FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS

DATE: Thursday, October 9, 2003


COMMONWEALTH WEBSITE GUIDELINES IGNORED

A Bracks Government audit of Victorian e-commerce websites has revealed that only 1 per cent met all the key requirements of the Commonwealth ‘Best Practice’ model.

The Minister for Consumer Affairs, John Lenders, said sites that did not meet key best practice standards were discovered during a month-long sweep of 380 e-commerce sites.

“It’s disappointing that so few websites have followed best practice standards,” Mr Lenders said.

“It seems the Commonwealth’s Best Practice Model (BPM), which covers a wide range of disclosures referring to information about identity, contracts, privacy, payments, security, complaint handling, advertising and marketing, is unknown to Victorian retailers.

“Legally, websites aren’t required to adhere to best practice, but if they want to attract customers and instil confidence in e-commerce, they need to do more than the legal minimum,” Mr Lenders said.

The audit targeted motor-car traders, real estate agents, travel agents, credit providers, finance and wealth creation web-sites.

Mr Lenders said sites were assessed against the Commonwealth’s 2000 BPM and consumer protection laws applicable to each industry.

Of the sites searched, CAV detected:
· 86 possible breaches of the motor car trader’s legislation, of these almost three-quarters didn’t show the motor car
trader’s licence number and others omitted cash prices for used cars and vehicle details for used cars;
· 15 possible breaches of the Travel Agents Act because the travel agent’s licence number was not advertised on the
site;
· a high level of compliance amongst credit providers with the Consumer Credit Code with only one breach; and,
· only a small number of estate agent websites met all the Best Practice standards, with only one containing
complaint-handling procedures and only 33 providing privacy policies.

“We have sent warning letters to some businesses and will take action against traders who don’t deal with identified breaches of the law,” Mr Lenders said.

Mr Lenders said the Government carried out regular audits like this to identify systemic issues.

“We want to ensure consumers are as confident in their online transactions as they are when they visit the corner store,” Mr Lenders said.

“Victoria has taken the national lead on e-commerce and we are tackling fraud and misrepresentation on the net.”

Mr Lenders encouraged Victorian consumers to be cautious when dealing with information obtained from the Internet.

If consumers have any questions they should call Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81 or visit our website http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au to experience ShopSafe™, CAV’s computer application that teaches consumers how to shop safely on the internet.

BACKGROUND:

The 380 e-commerce sites searched by Consumer Affairs Victoria included:
· Real estate agents - 160
· Motor car traders - 95
· Credit/finance/wealth creation - 67
· Travel agents - 33
· General traders - 25

Best Practice Model Questions	No of sites not meeting BPM
1. How many sites include the physical address of the business?	5
2. How many sites included a contact telephone number?	3
3. How many sites include a privacy policy?	207
4. How many sites include information about complaint-handling procedures?	326
5. How many sites include information about security of any payment mechanisms?	8
6. How many sites include applicable currency for the purchase?	2

TABLE OF RESULTS

	Motor Car Traders	Credit	Travel
Legislative Breaches
Non-inclusion of LMCT No	68
Non-inclusion of cash price or used cars	7
Non-inclusion of vehicle details for used cars	11
Non-inclusion of credit fees and charges		1
Non-inclusion of travel agent's license number			15

Commonwealth 2000 Best Practice Model can be found at: http://www.ecommerce.treasury.gov.au/html/ecommerce.htm

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