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Helen Brown

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Helen Brown is a partner in the London IT/Commercial Department. Together with Julia Hemmings, Helen heads up the Consumer and Commercial Advisory Practice.

The CMA has begun to take action against businesses operating in the holiday accommodation sector that it considers are failing to comply with the law.

This follows the CMA guidance in late April on consumer cancellations and refunds, and the announcement that it would be focusing on the sectors against which it had received the most complaints. On 9 June the CMA press release stated that “following CMA action, a major holiday lets company is now offering refunds for cancelled bookings, while others are facing further scrutiny over their policies”.

Contents In depth Sectors in the spotlight On 20 March 2020, the CMA launched its COVID-19 Taskforce to monitor market developments and identify the harmful practices facing consumers in the current climate. The COVID-19 Taskforce’s Report of 24 April identified that 4 out of 5 complaints it had received were…

The European Commission’s New Deal for Consumers (New Deal) is a package of reforms that seeks to enhance existing consumer protection legislation and improve the ability of individuals and regulators to bring enforcement action where traders fail to comply. Traders that target consumers in the EU have two years to…

A key part of the EU’s New Deal for Consumers entered into force on 7 January 2020: the Omnibus Directive, which strengthens consumer rights through enhanced enforcement measures and increased transparency requirements. The headline changes introduced by the new Directive are: GDPR-style penalties. A requirement for increased transparency online, in…

On 1 October 2019, the European Commission (EC) adopted a package of Ecodesign measures which, for the first time, include requirements for repairability and recyclability for household products. These requirements seek to contribute to the EU’s circular economy objectives by improving the life span, maintenance, re-use, upgrade, recyclability and waste…