Punters should be allowed to return online music

PEOPLE WHO BUY online music should have a right to return it if they don't like it, according to a Green Paper which is floating around Brussels.

The paper, with the catchy title "Review of the Consumer Acquis" outlines the results of a European Commission review of consumer protection laws within the EU.

It tackles one of the problems that Apple is having with Norway and Sweden over the the "cooling off" period mandated by Scandinavian consumer protection laws. Norway and Sweden both say that users have the right to return any goods digital or otherwise.

The EC quite likes the Scandinavian laws and wants to standardise them across Europe. The paper does not mention much about Apple's Fairplay interoperability which is probably going to get the iTunes jukebox banned from Norway and Sweden.

It does talk about "problems" with music downloaded from the Internet and used on digital music players or mobiles. The EC might be taking the view that the DRM issue would be not be a problem if online music stores were forced to accept returns.

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