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Omnibus Directive and false opinions on websites. How to publish customer recommendations?
Omnibus Directive opinions, or how to publish and verify customer recommendations?
Kacper Bednarz
16/01/2023
| Updated at: 08/09/2023
| 4 min read
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The Omnibus Directive of the European Union, which came into effect in January 2023, introduces new requirements regarding the protection of consumer interests and prevents unfair trade practices. Companies must now disclose the methods they use to verify the authenticity of customer reviews. However, many businesses do not know how to do this.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) will have the ability to conduct inspections, including verifying how entrepreneurs publish reviews.
Fortunately, there is a simple solution - the Rating Captain application, which is already #OmnibusReady, meaning it is adapted to the requirements of the Omnibus Directive and regulations. It is worth familiarizing yourself with its capabilities and adapting your company to the informational obligations of the directive.
How to publish reviews in accordance with the Omnibus Directive?
Entrepreneurs must verify the authenticity of customer reviews, ensuring that they have actually used the product or made a purchase.
One of the most effective ways to verify reviews is to provide customers with an individual link through which they can leave a review.
The President of UOKiK recommends this method, stating that it is the simplest and most reliable verification tool.
Thanks to this, only consumers who have actually made a purchase from the entrepreneur will be able to leave a review, ensuring the authenticity of the opinions. This will confirm that the consumer has actually used the product or availed themselves of the services.
How to verify consumer opinions? Compliance with UOKiK and the Omnibus Directive - #OmnibusReady
Motif 47 of the Omnibus Directive states that entrepreneurs should provide information about their processes or procedures for verifying opinions, as well as clearly inform consumers about how opinions are processed (e.g. the source of the opinions).
In order to comply with the Omnibus Directive, entrepreneurs have an informational obligation to explain, among other things::
- whether they publish all opinions - both positive and negative;
- what is the impact of sponsored opinions or contractual relationships;
- whether they are influenced by contractual relationships with the entrepreneur;
- whether opinions are only provided by users who have used the product or made a purchase;
- other information about the method of conducting inspections.
The aim of the Omnibus Directive is to prevent unfair market practices. The Rating Captain application, already adapted to the requirements of the Omnibus Directive, allows for sending individual links to consumers so that they can leave a review about a product or company.
Verification of product reviews and the Omnibus Directive
In order to comply with the Omnibus Directive, it is important to clearly and honestly inform customers about the steps you take to verify reviews.
You should explain how you publish consumer recommendations on your website or online store, what steps are taken to verify opinions, how the average rating is calculated, and where the opinions come from.
If you use the services of an external company to verify opinions, you should also inform customers about how the opinions are processed by that company.
It is also worth adding a reviews widget to your website and a note describing the review verification process #OmnibusReady.
Be an honest entrepreneur! Entrepreneur, opinions, and consumer recommendations
After taking care of these steps - consider offering incentives to customers to leave reviews, such as discounts on future purchases, which will increase the number of reviews obtained from customers.
Transparency and incentives can encourage customers to leave reviews while ensuring the authenticity of those opinions.
By doing this, you can be sure that your company is #OmnibusReady - compliant with the Omnibus Directive and avoid potential penalties from the European Union.
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Author of the post
Kacper Bednarz
Product Marketing Manager
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