The European City Guide is one of a family of deceptive mailing scams that targets small businesses in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.   A vigorous campaign to halt these scams is underway at national and European level, including an investigation by the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee.  There is a growing support network for victims in the UK and beyond. For the most up-to-date advice and information, please visit

http://www.stopecg.org/

If you are targeted by ECG, do not pay them any money. The 'contract' that people are tricked into signing has been judged as deceptive by several national authorities across the European Union, including the UK's Office of Fair Trading. For this reason, although the ECG and its sister debt collection companies will continue to bully and threaten their victims, they have never been known to take anyone to court. Another strategy of theirs is to offer a discount as a 'gesture of goodwill'; many victims have been tricked into paying this reduced amount, but have subsequently found that even this is not enough to end the harassment.

In recent months there has been significant progress in tackling these kinds of organisations.   Following the transposition of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation in January 2007, the European Commission has established an EU-wide "enforcement network" which will see national public enforcement authorities working with each other and the Commission to tackle cross-border rogue traders.

There has also been progress on this issue in the Parliament.  The Petitions Committee in the Parliament has drafted a Report (Maltese MEP Simon Busuttil is the rapporteur) on the ECG which was approved in December 2008 by a massive majority.  Meanwhile, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee has also conducted a study into the issue and an Opinion to the Busuttil report.  The Commission have acknowledged the extent of the problem and have promised to urge Member States to enforce the Misleading Advertising Directive more rigorously and, perhaps, propose amendments to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive to specifically tackle ECG-style business to business scams.

However, there are still problems.  Firstly, the Commission regards the ECG's way of working as business-to-business transactions, which means victims are not protected by consumer protection laws.  Secondly, there is EU legislation which can and has been used to prosecute the ECG and its sister groups but there has been no real consistent consensus throughout Europe. Whereas Belgium and Austria have found against the ECG, and the Catalan High Court has closed their office down, the authorities in Valencia have tolerated their behaviour.  Austria currently has the strongest position against the scams and both the Busutill report and my colleague Arlene McCarthy MEP, Chair of the Internal Market Committee, recommend that all EU countries agree the Austrian model should be a common position in Europe.

There is a growing support network for victims in the UK and beyond.   For the most up-to-date advice and information, go to www.stopecg.org    My Labour colleague Richard Corbett MEP also posts regular updates on the ECG to his blog at www.richardcorbett.org.uk

Along with my Labour colleagues, I will continue to make representations on this issue at a European level.  In the meantime, my advice is as follows:

- Do not pay.

- Contact the Consumer Protection Directorate in Valencia, Spain, where ECG is based, and ask for your contract to be cancelled.   Contact details are at http://www.stopecg.org/.

- If the ECG or their debt collection companies continue to harass you, tell them that you are considering legal action against them under European directives on misleading advertising.

February 2009