Market guard

Market guard
purpose	Consumer-oriented market observation, early warning system of the consumer advice centers
Chair:	Consumer Association Federal Association
Establishment date:	February 2015
Seat :	Berlin
Website:	https://www.marktwaechter.de/

The market watchdogs are an early warning system based on market observation in German consumer protection , which is intended to identify dangers in the digital world , energy and finance for consumers at an early stage and thus prevent damage. The market watchdogs are a joint project of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) and the 16 consumer centers in Germany. The market watchdog for finance and digital world started their work in 2015, the market watchdog for energy in August 2017. The Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) supports the market watchdog for digital world, energy and finance.

Objective / task

The task of the market watchdog is to gain knowledge about problems of consumers in the financial market, in the digital world and in the energy sector, to enable rapid countermeasures and thus to avert possible harm to consumers. The basis of this early warning system is the consumer-oriented market observation , which the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) has been developing together with the consumer advice centers since 2015.

The basis for the consumer-oriented market observation are all inquiries and complaints from consumers from the consultations in the 16 consumer advice centers in Germany. Complaints that are received via the online portal www.marktwaechter.de are also recorded.

Cases that are characterized, for example, by high harm to consumers, meshes that focus on a particular target group and topics that occur particularly frequently or are completely new are collected in a central database and evaluated by the market watchdog experts.

If these evaluation results are conspicuous, current and relevant, the public is informed, for example, in the form of press releases, consumer warnings and consumer calls. In addition, the market watchdogs continuously share their findings with the relevant supervisory authorities, such as the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) , the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) or the Federal Cartel Office (BKartA) .

Working method and topics

Working method of the market watchdog: Recognize - inform - act

The market watchdogs work according to the principle of "Recognize - Inform - Act":

In the first step, the recorded consumer complaints are analyzed and legally assessed. This enables systematic problems to be identified.
In the second step, the market watchdogs inform consumers , politicians , supervisory authorities , providers or other actors about their findings.
In the third step the consumer centers, together with the vzbv based on market insights Guardian measures, such as law enforcement take and providers admonish . In addition, the findings flow into the advice offered by the consumer advice centers.

subjects

The market watchdogs work on topics that can be assigned to different focuses:

Market watchman digital world

Digital services (e.g. price comparison and review portals , partner exchanges and online storage services)

Digital purchasing of goods (e.g. eCommerce, mCommerce and shopping apps)

User-generated content (e.g. social networks , blogs , forums , messengers and quantified self-services)

Digital goods (e.g. eBooks , Mp3s, apps and games )

Telecommunication services (e.g. landline , cellular , internet provider and bandwidth performance)

Market guard finances

Financial investment / retirement provision (e.g. Riester pension , Rürup pension , financial investments, equity funds and certificates)

Real estate financing (e.g. annuity loans and building society contracts )

Insurance (e.g. life insurance , home insurance and private health insurance )

Gray capital market (e.g. subordinated loans , silent partnerships and profit participation rights )

Banking services and consumer credit (e.g. checking account, credit card and consumer loan)

Market watchman energy

Electricity and gas market (e.g. unwanted change of provider, bonus payments)
District heating (e.g. price adjustments in current contracts)
Heating cost bills (e.g. error statistics and proportionality of metering service costs)
Affordability of energy (e.g. power cuts )

Market observation

Consumers can report complaints or information in around 200 advice centers at consumer centers in Germany and via the market watchdog portal. These are collected centrally in a nationwide database and then their content is analyzed and evaluated. In a process specially developed for market observation, particularly conspicuous cases from the consultations such as brazen rip-offs, new scams or extremely high amounts of damage are reported.

If the analysis reveals that the problem is systematic, supra-regional or nationwide, possible measures to remedy the deficiency are then checked and, if necessary, implemented on the basis of the evaluation results. These measures range from providing targeted information to consumers, politicians and supervisory authorities, conducting supplier dialogues or issuing warnings to companies in order to remove these abuses. If necessary, "in-depth market analyzes" serve to further deepen the knowledge and questions of consumer-oriented market observation.

Consumer participation

In order to identify grievances in the markets under review at an early stage, the market watchdogs also rely on direct advice from consumers. In addition to a consultation at the consumer advice centers, consumers can also report problems with products or providers in the digital, financial or energy markets using a complaint form on the website www.marktwaechter.de. In addition, calls for updated surveys by the market watchdogs are regularly posted on the website, where consumers can submit information on specific topics.

Results

By the end of 2018, the digital world and finance market watchdogs were able to filter, collect and evaluate over 30,000 conspicuous reports from consumers from more than 2.5 million consultations and information. 52 explicit market watchdog warnings were issued, 139 providers were warned, 40 investigation reports were published and 12 judgments were obtained. In the market watchman for energy, which was introduced later, between August 2017 and December 2018, out of around 55,000 reports recorded, around 2,000 were identified as suspicious and examined. During this period, an explicit consumer warning was issued and six providers were warned and three investigation reports were created.

In November 2018, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, together with the consumer organizations, published facts and figures from the complaint statistics and the early warning network for the first time. This shows that the 16 consumer advice centers across Germany received a total of 307,000 inquiries and complaints from consumers in the first half of 2018. For the market watchdog, there were around 7,000 suspicious reports, which is an average of 270 per week. Conspicuous reports are about cases with high damage for consumers, questionable providers and new scams and tricks from companies.

background

Consumers' needs and knowledge vary widely depending on the market. The increasing complexity due to digitization and the increasing variety of offers ensure that consumers are increasingly moving in markets that are complex and confusing or that require expert knowledge that not all consumers have. This development was particularly strong in the areas of finance and digital, but also energy. In the coalition agreement between the CDU , CSU and SPD in 2013, the partners therefore initially decided to “commission the existing consumer organizations with a special market watchdog function for the financial market and digital world ”. In 2017, this market watchdog function was extended to the energy market. In the coalition agreement concluded in 2018 , the parties involved, CDU, CSU and SPD, declared: "We want to stabilize the existing market watchdogs through financial support and put them on a legal basis."

On October 17, 2014, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) announced that a grant notification with start-up funding of 1.5 million euros would be provided for the conception of the market watchdog and that this could be set up as early as February of the following year . In total, the two market watchdogs, initially limited to the end of 2017, were funded by the BMJV with around five million euros per year. Until the end of 2019, the BMJV will support them again with 5 million euros annually. The development of the energy market watchdog began in August 2017. In the first phase until the end of 2018, the project was funded by the BMJV with 1.9 million euros. In the current funding phase (January to December 2019) the funding amount is 3.1 million euros.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV): Establishment of the market watchdog starts. Retrieved May 28, 2019 .

↑ Carina Wilfer: consumer centers start market watchdog energy. In: EUWID New Energy. EUWID Europäische Wirtschaftsdienst GmbH, Gernsbach, August 16, 2017, accessed on May 28, 2019 .

↑ Marktwächter: Consumer calls . German Consumer Association, June 27, 2017, accessed on May 29, 2019 .

↑ Market guard: Market guard will continue to be promoted. German Consumer Association, September 18, 2017, accessed on May 29, 2019 .

↑ Market watchdog: finance, digital, energy: consumer advocates register hundreds of thousands of complaints and inquiries. German Consumer Association, accessed on May 29, 2019 .

↑ Shaping Germany's future - coalition agreement between CDU, CSU and SPD. December 16, 2013, p. 87 , accessed May 26, 2019 .

↑ A new departure for Europe, a new dynamic for Germany, a new cohesion for our country - coalition agreement between CDU, CSU and SPD. March 12, 2018, p. 124 , accessed May 29, 2019 .

↑ Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV): Establishment of the market watchdog starts. October 17, 2014, accessed May 29, 2019 .

↑ Market guard: Market guard will continue to be promoted. German Consumer Association, September 18, 2017, accessed on May 29, 2019 .

↑ Market watchman: Market watchman energy starts. German Consumer Association, August 16, 2017, accessed on May 29, 2019 .

[1] Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV): Establishment of the market watchdog starts. Retrieved May 28, 2019 .

[2] Carina Wilfer: consumer centers start market watchdog energy. In: EUWID New Energy. EUWID Europäische Wirtschaftsdienst GmbH, Gernsbach, August 16, 2017, accessed on May 28, 2019 .