10 June 2011 – Keith Taylor, the Green MEP for South East England, has welcomed the European Parliament’s support for a new resolution calling for an end to business directory scams.

Across Europe, thousands of businesses, NGOs, libraries and even schools have fallen victim to the widespread misleading practices of ‘business directory companies’.  After being lured in by a ‘free’ offer businesses and organisations unintentionally sign up to a binding multi-annual contract for a listing in a business directory. They can be charged up to around £1000 a year for three years for one listing.

The European Parliament’s resolution, which Keith voted for this week, calls on the European Commission to ensure that countries in the EU are enforcing the 2006 EU Directive on misleading and comparative advertising [1]. Parliament called on the Commission to take action against those governments that aren’t enforcing this directive.

Speaking to parliament to support the resolution Keith said: “Small businesses and charities that fall victim to these fraudulent scams are caught between a rock and a hard place. They’re often too small to be able to afford the fees to take legal action, but paying the fees which they were tricked into signing up to has put numerous companies in severe hardship.

“It’s important that the European Parliament has highlighted these scams and I am now calling on the European Commission to take a tough stance on EU governments that are not enforcing existing rules to prevent this deceptive and damaging practice. My immediate advice to companies in the South East is that if something looks too good to be true then it probably isn’t true.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The full text of the resolution can be viewed at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B7-2011-0342&language=EN