Vj-3/1997/10
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE TRAINING COURSE LTD
(EURÓPAI LEVELEZŐ OKTATÁS KFT.)
The Office of Economic Competition started investigation against the European Correspondence Training Course Ltd (Európai Levelező Oktatás, hereinafter: ELO) because of deception of consumers.
The ELO carries out correspondence course activities (in the fields of language, manager, book-keeping etc. training courses) and it advertises itself as the "first, best and biggest" system of the correspondence course. Furthermore ELO claims in advertisements that persons who paid the course fee certificate will be given, which is widely accepted by every European country, therefore getting job is easier having this certificate.
ELO could not give evidence to prove its statement and the Competition Council judged the expression of the "first, best and biggest" as false which can influence the consumers` decision unfairly and suggested ELO issuing justification instead of certificate as the courses end without exams therefore using this terminology would be more appropriate. Taking into consideration the beneficial activity from the social aspect, the Competition Council imposed a relatively law amount of fine (HUF 100 000, about 500 ECU) on ELO.
April 28, 1997. Budapest
dr. Lénárd Réka sk. előadó
dr. Bodócsi András sk.
dr. Győrffy István sk.
Szabó Györgyi