Press releases

The Irish data protection commission (DPC) announced today that it will start a formal investigation into Google’s practices to track the location of consumers. The investigation follows a series of complaints by several national consumer groups across the EU, all BEUC member organisations, in November 2018.

In its 2020 work programme, which the European Commission presented today, it announced the adoption of an EU consumer agenda. The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) welcomes this commitment to replace the current agenda which dates back more than seven years.

New rules become applicable across the EU on Friday 17 January which will give national authorities more teeth to go after companies which break consumer law across national borders and to act jointly, and thus more efficiently, in case of infringements in several countries.

Consumer groups from across the BEUC network are today urging their data protection authorities to open an investigation into practices by online advertising tech companies and bring them in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Based on a comprehensive report on the matter, the Norwegian consumer organisation Forbrukerrådet has filed several GDPR complaints against the dating app Grindr and five online advertising technology companies.