The UK’s Office of Fair Trading has taken action against four websites who have been charging users for European Health Insurance Cards.
The department has warned that the websites have been misleading customers into thinking that they are an official service and that they need to pay £10 (€12) for the cards, which are free on the National Health Service.
The cards, which were introduced in June 2004 to replace the E111 form, provide UK holidaymakers with free or cheaper state health care when travelling in the EU.
Although the £10 charge for processing applications that people could have completed themselves is not illegal, the OFT argued that the websites were not clear about the services they were offering.
Heather Clayton, senior director of the OFT’s Consumer Group, said in a statement: "While it is not unlawful to charge money for a reviewing and forwarding service, traders must be clear about the product or service they are offering, and not trick consumers into parting with money for services they don’t want.
“People seeking to obtain government funded services such as an EHIC should check carefully that they are using an official government website.”
The OFT said it started investigating the websites in March 2010 after complaints were made to the Department of Health and to Consumer Direct.
It found that the sites, three of which have agreed to stop their “deceptive selling practices” and one which has been suspended, used the EHIC brand and domain names.
The OFT found this made them sound official and did not make it clear that they were not the official provider of EHICs.
Links: Official announcement on the Directgov website.
NHS Business Services Authority website on EHIC