Analytics, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

Most of the complaints submitted in the first nine months of this year, or 1,241, were about non-compliance with agreement terms in provision of services. Majority of these complaints were about airline services (568 complaints), distance sales contracts (332 complaints), rent and utilities (90 complaints), electronic communication services (62 complaints), tourism services (22 complaints) etc.

A total of 501 complaints were received about non-compliance with agreement terms in supply of goods. Most of those complaints or 119 concerned the quality of mobile phones, 109 concerned the quality of footwear, 75 concerned the quality of electric appliances, 17 concerned the quality of furniture and another 17 the quality of textiles, etc.

There were also 237 complaints about aggressive commercial practices, advertising and e-commerce, 111 complaint sabout the failure to observe the principle of legal equality among the contracting parties, five complaints about violations in reviewing of claims, and a number of complaints about other subjects.

In case of 1,316 complaints received by the consumer rights watchdog in the first nine months of this year, explanations, consultations or information were provided, a positive solution was found in 464 cases and 155 complaints were forwarded to other authorities. As many as 370 complaints are still being reviewed and 16 complaints were withdrawn by the applicants. The consumer rights watchdog also turned down 61 complaints as improperly presented.

The complaints made in January-September 2017 about non-compliance with agreement terms in supply of goods concerned agreements with total value of EUR 208,845. For the complaints regarding non-compliance with agreement terms in provision of services, the total value of agreements was EUR 288,165.

In January-September 2017 PTAC provided 29,165 consultations on consumer rights.

In the first nine months of 2016 the consumer rights watchdog received 1,829 complaints.

PTAC deals with consumer claims and applications on violations of consumer rights and offers legal assistance, and can defend consumers in court. PTAC operates under the supervision of the Economics Ministry.