The EU Omnibus Directive: The new regulations and how they affect you

The new EU Directive 2019/2161 – otherwise known as the Omnibus Directive – will be brought into force on the 28^th of May 2022. Want to know more about how the Omnibus Directive affects you? This article will clarify several topics, from what the Directive entails to the benefit of a Trusted Shops membership within the scope of the Directive.

Table of contents

1. What is the new Omnibus Directive?
2. Main legal changes
3. How do I adapt my online shop to comply with the legal changes?
3a. Reviews collected with Trusted Shops
3b. Reviews collected with another service provider
4. Conclusion

What is the new Omnibus Directive?

The European Union, in its efforts to guarantee consumer protection, has adopted a new directive.

In Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders’ words:

“Consumers very often rely on online reviews when shopping or booking online. I don't want consumers to be tricked. I want them to be able to interact in a trustworthy environment.”

The Commissioner’s remark is reinforced by a website screening carried out by the European Commission on online consumer reviews. The study revealed that a minimum of 55% of the websites analysed, all of which use reviews, possibly infringe EU law. Another 18% left authorities in doubt regarding their reliability. Hence, the Commissioner’s insistence that online businesses should provide consumers with transparent and visible information on the reliability of reviews.

This is where the new regulation comes into play. It is a means of compelling online businesses to adopt a series of measures in the interest of transparency for consumers. In doing so, any particularly aggressive or misleading marketing and sales practices that lead consumers to make decisions on the basis of unauthentic information will be prevented.

Main legal changes

The main legal, review-related changes include the following:

An obligation to communicate the authenticity of reviews

As of May 28, 2022, all online shops that display reviews on their websites, whether service or product reviews, are required to disclose the authenticity of those reviews.

Misleading consumers as to the authenticity of reviews is prohibited

It is not permitted to claim that service or product reviews have come from consumers who used or purchased said service or product, without having taken the steps to verify it. Retailers must also communicate the measures they take to verify the authenticity of reviews.

A ban on fake reviews

We previously discussed why buying positive reviews should be avoided, and now, as a result of this Directive, buying fake reviews will be completely prohibited. The same goes for the falsification of reviews in exchange for free products or financial compensation.

This change is meant to tighten controls on misleading and deceptive advertising, as online reviews heavily influence consumer behaviour.

How do I adapt my online shop to comply with the legal changes?

Source: shutterstock.com/relif

1. Reviews collected with Trusted Shops

If you booked Service and Product Reviews with Trusted Shops, you can take a breather. Reviews collected with Trusted Shops are verified, and we conduct technical checks to ensure that your reviews come from real consumers who made purchases from your shop.

To figure out if you need to make changes to your website, we recommend that you first check how the reviews you collected with Trusted Shops are currently displayed in your online shop. There are several possibilities:

Trustbadge: If you display your reviews via the Trustbadge, you have nothing to worry about. We adapted the Trustbadge to meet the new legal requirements. If you click on the three dots on the top right corner of the Trustbadge, you will find an overview displaying several options, including “Authentic reviews”.

eTrusted Widgets (Standard Integration): If you display your Service and/or Product Reviews using the eTrusted widgets, you will also not have to do anything. We adapted the widgets in accordance with the new regulations.

In both cases, by selecting “Authentic reviews” or “About the authenticity of the reviews”, you will be redirected to the shop’s review profile. From there, you can find a link to an article outlining our measures for review verification.

If you have yet to display reviews on your website, but would like to start giving them visibility, download this whitepaper to find out how to manage Product Reviews and Product Review Widgets! 👇

APIs: If you integrated our products yourself or through an API integration, you will have to provide the legally-required information individually. In this article, we explain what you need to take into account in order to apply the new regulations onto your website.

⚠️Please do not take these changes lightly. In cases of non-compliance, retailers can face penalties as high as 4% of their annual turnover in the respective Member State, or €2 million should the retailer’s annual turnover be unavailable.

2. Reviews collected with another service provider

Whether you work with a service provider or a module offered by your ecommerce platform to collect reviews, the first step to finding out how this Directive affects you is to figure out the relevant measures taken by your service provider or ecommerce platform to comply with the new regulations.

Do they indicate the types of reviews they process, and whether these reviews are verified or not?
Have they communicated the measures they take to verify reviews?

Is your review provider not legally compliant, or do you not have a provider and want to start collecting reviews? With Trusted Shops, you can play it safe!

Contact our experts for more information on the Trusted Shops feedback system:

Conclusion

This new Directive has further strengthened the value of authentic reviews. With Trusted Shops, members can rest assured that only customers who completed a purchase in their shops can submit a review – we take care of the verification.

Similarly, internet users who read the reviews on our members’ websites can rest assured that, in the interest of transparency, negative reviews cannot be modified or deleted, unless they violate our terms and conditions.

By demonstrating trustworthiness in your online shop, rewards beginning with increased consumer confidence and ending in higher conversion rates will follow.

Continue highlighting your credibility and displaying your collected reviews wherever possible: