Last Thursday (12 June 2025), Maverick Advocaten and Thuiswinkel.org organised a seminar in Utrecht on the do’s and don'ts of e-commerce. The seminar attracted more than 50 participants from various large and small e-commerce companies in a wide range of sectors.
During the seminar, speakers from the Autoriteit Consument & Markt (ACM), the Consumentenbond, Thuiswinkel.org and Maverick Advocaten (Cyriel Ruers) discussed current developments in the field of (fake) discounts and other forms of online deception (‘dark patterns’).
During the speakers' contributions and the subsequent panel discussion – moderated by Martijn van de Hel – questions and practical experiences from the participants were addressed. The Consumentenbond explained what (collective) actions are planned against companies that use fake discounts. The discussion also showed that companies are keen to play by the rules, but at the same time struggle with unclear legislation and competitors who do not take such strict measures and therefore enjoy an unfair commercial advantage.
We look back on a successful seminar with great satisfaction.
More information on consumer rules can be found on consumentenrecht.info. For more information on (fake) discounts and dark patterns, see this and this blog. More information on online deception and unfair commercial practices in general can be found here.
Information on dawn raids by the ACM and the European Commission can be found at invalacm.nl.
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