Latest news...

All the latest news.

go

consumer warning
Beat the con-men! Stay one step ahead and keep an eye on our consumer warnings...
go

Welcome to UK ECC Services

A key part of the European Services Directive that was brought into UK law in December 2009 is about increasing consumers’ confidence to consider businesses from anywhere in the EU.  It achieves this by setting some basic requirements – ensuring consumers have access to a minimum amount of information and to a complaints procedure no matter where in the EU a business is based. Please read our information page on 'What consumers can expect'.

Below are some of the  questions that we, as consumers, should be asking ourselves before we employ someone to carry out work for us, irrespective of where we live or where the trades person lives.

What rights do I have when buying services in other EU countries?

  • Do I have the same rights when buying services in other EU countries as I do here?

  • Can I ask a service provider to provide information about their service to me in English?

  • Have they the appropriate qualifications/ licences/certificates etc that they require to trade?

  • Who can help me if I have a dispute with someone I have bought a service from?

  • What does all the jargon/terminology mean?

For answers to question like these please visit our FAQ pages.

Engaging someone from another EU member state does not need to make this decision more complicated.

The following page links will help you to know what information to gather to make that informed choice. Remember you can always contact us and we will find the information you require for you.

There’s more than one way to find the information you are looking for.

  • If you know the country AND service you require,
    select both search options and press ‘GO’.
  • OR select by ‘country’ only to find the required service from an alphabetical list.
  • OR search by ‘service’ only to view a general overview
    of the specified service offered within Europe.
Search by
Please select a country from the list
Search by
Please select a service from the list

Funded by BIS

The European Consumer Centre for Services is hosted by the Trading Standards Institute and funded by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.