Looking back at 2019 and plans for 2020

ECC Belgium has been working on behalf of consumers since 2001 and our progress and success is entirely due to the strength of our network, that celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. Let's take a look at the statistics for 2019.

Looking back at 2019

  • ECC Belgium received a record number of requests/complaints: 12,578.
  • Reported complaints related to
    1. non-delivery of online purchases
    2. guarantee & cooling-off period
    3. subscription traps.
  • We mainly had to contact traders in
    1. the aviation sector
    2. the car rental sector
    3. the leisure and gaming sector.
  • In 77% of cases, the contract was entered into online.
  • Belgian traders arranged amicable solutions in 42% of cases, whereas Belgian consumers could rely on an amicable solution with a foreign trader in 57% of cases.

Definite highlights in 2019 included:

  • the development of www.webshopcheck.be,
  • the further elimination of bugs in the new electronic complaints processing system that we use within the network and
  • ·our first year as a contact point for complaints relating to geoblocking and the Services Directive.

Plans for 2020

In 2020, the focus will be on our 15th anniversary – a year in which we as a network will put twelve consumer topics in the spotlight, one during each month of our anniversary year. Each ECC member will cover a specific topic or part thereof. ECC Belgium will deal with the subject of ‘how consumers can assert their rights’. Moreover, we also aim to prevent complaints by supplementing our website with even better and more easily accessible information for everyone. Obviously, we want to continue to provide an excellent service, which is quite a challenge bearing in mind the year-on-year rise in the number of requests/complaints.