NTL scraps €2 charge

Thumbs up:We have probably received a greater volume of complaints about NTL's ill-advised decision to impose a €2 charge on customers who did not want to pay their bills via direct debit than about any other single issue in the last few months.

The good news is that last week NTL was forced to abandon the charge which was supposed to come into effect on April 1st, at least for its existing customers. It's not all good news, however, as the charge will still apply to new customers - something that will have to be reviewed when the Consumer Protection Bill is enacted.

China's bad goods

Thumbs down:China has been identified as the main culprit in the production of dangerous consumer goods which end up on sale in the EU. According to a report published last week, China produces nearly half of all the unsafe products selling in this market.

Last year 440 different products from China, ranging from toys to cigarette lighters, were notified as being dangerous, over 10 times more than the figure for Germany which ranked second on the list. In total, restrictive measures concerning 924 dangerous products were reported through Europe's Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products, up 32 per cent on 2005.

The European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Meglena Kuneva, said the rise was a good thing. "The constant increase in the number of measures notified is a good sign. It shows that vigilance across Europe is getting better and better," she said.