madam president the european parliament has received hundreds of petitions from small businesses across the eu who claim to have fallen victim to these schemes
while paying these outrageous fees may put innocent companies under severe financial hardship the victims are often too small to afford the legal costs of bringing actions against these directory companies
these companies often target victims that are based in another member state
this creates legal uncertainty for the victims as they often do not know what the legal status is of such contracts in another country
the directory companies play on that uncertainty
whilst the commission has clearly stated that the directive on misleading and comparative advertising outlaws the misleading practices of these directory companies it must also look at the transposing of that directive by the member states in order to clarify whether citizens are protected equally across europe
the fact that this directive has been transposed by member states does not necessarily mean that these measures are either comprehensive or in conformity with one another
