EU proposes access to human support when online chatbots can’t help

The European Commission proposed its Digital Fairness Act on November 11. Businesses that provide customer service online after a sale or other contract would have to let customers reach a person on request when other means, such as a chatbot, fail to resolve the issue. The proposal also addresses unwanted paid subscriptions and difficulty cancelling contracts.

A customer disputing a charge on a service bought online, for example, could ask to speak with a person after getting nowhere with the chatbot. Article 25 applies after the customer has entered into a contract. It excludes investment services as defined under the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.

The proposal gives email and instant messaging as examples of how that conversation could happen. Its accompanying explanation envisages help in the language used for the contract, free of charge and without undue delay during the business’s working hours. The EU AI Act already requires people to be told at the first interaction when they are dealing with an AI system, unless it is obvious. The new proposal addresses what happens when a customer still has a problem after using the available support.

When an AI system can make a purchase

Article 26 covers systems that can enter into and carry out contracts on a customer’s behalf. On first use, the customer would choose whether to confirm every contract, only certain kinds of contract, or none. The second option lets the customer set criteria including a price limit and how long the choice applies. The provider would send a record of the choice that the customer can keep and make the settings available to change later.

Take a booking assistant with instructions to seek approval above a spending limit. The assistant would have to show the qualifying booking to the customer for confirmation before committing. If the provider gets paid for proposing a booking or has a conflict of interest with the trader concerned, it would have to disclose that and ask the customer to confirm the booking even if they ordinarily let the system proceed.

Before a free trial becomes a bill

A business offering a digital free trial would have to send a clear reminder before it ends. The notice would include the end date, the price and length of the paid contract and the terms for ending it. The switch to a paid contract would require an explicit agreement from the customer during the trial. Providing card details when signing up would leave that decision open.

Businesses that offer contracts online would also have to provide an easy-to-find way to submit a cancellation online, including for customers who originally signed in person. Once someone submits a cancellation, the business would have up to a week to send an acknowledgment recording when it was submitted and when the contract ends. The contract and applicable rules would still determine when the customer can end it.

Controls for autoplay and engagement nudges

The proposal would also require businesses to give users controls over features that encourage excessive or compulsive use of digital products. These include autoplay, feeds that keep serving content without an effective break, and notifications unrelated to what the user has been doing. Users would be able to turn off those features separately or together.

The proposal also covers messages from automated systems that mimic a personal relationship to keep someone engaged. One example would be a chatbot that repeatedly urges a user to keep chatting. The draft makes exceptions for some services and practices covered by the Commission’s separately proposed EU KIDS Act.

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU must agree on the text before it becomes law. The proposal gives the regulation 20 days from its publication in the EU’s Official Journal to enter into force. The draft puts the start of application 12 months later, a provision still in brackets. The text sets no calendar date for the new obligations.