Current Issues in Consumer Law 6/2011 Theme: Senior citizens

EDITORIAL
Sprightly old age cannot be taken for granted

The issue of the elderly and their needs has recently been raised in various contexts. There has been some debate, for example, as a result of the Finnish Act on Services for the Elderly, now being drafted, the standard of service in care homes, and the reduction in the range of bank services for elderly people.

An example of irresponsibility is provided by the decision by Nordea banks in the Päijät-Häme (Päijanne Tavastia) area of Finland that, from February next year, it will no longer be possible to withdraw cash over the counter at their branches. As this emagazine makes clear, not all elderly people will necessarily be in a position to switch to cash dispensers, electronic billing and online banking just like that.

The present Finnish Government Programme promises to prevent poverty, exclusion and inequality. The whole endeavour extends to guaranteeing elderly people a dignified existence.

Furthermore, in its attempt to identify the challenges of the future, the EU has realised that the number of older people in society is on the increase. In fact, 2012 has been declared European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. The aim is for people to continue to lead a full life as they get older.

We also intend to do something next year. We have already begun working with organisations for the elderly to prevent scams targeted at older people. Next year, we mean to continue monitoring this situation, especially in areas which affect the elderly.

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The Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy is presently overseeing the drafting of a Consumer Policy Programme, which should be completed at the beginning of 2012. The programme is based on the data from interviews with consumers talking about their everyday problems. The interviews revealed that the matter of greatest concern was the honesty and accountability of service providers.

At the initial seminar for the Consumer Policy Programme, the Finnish Minister of Labour, Lauri Ihalainen, said that he supported the view of consumers. He stressed the importance of accountability on the part of entrepreneurs and service and product providers, saying that a responsible attitude towards the rules of consumer trade must be seen, above all, as a competitive edge.

Anja Peltonen
Director

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ATMs in EU trial

ATM functions must be designed to be used by the weakest user groups. There is much room for improvement to automatic service systems in EU countries.

One in six Europeans has a disability. There are 87 million people in the EU who are over 64 years old. According to an EU study, however, only 38% of cash dispensers are fitted with voice recognition technology. This is a much smaller figure than in the USA, where 61% of ATMs have the facility, or in Canada, where voice recognition is a feature of virtually all cash machines. This is just one example of how ATMs could be designed to meet the needs of users more effectively.

An EU-funded project is aiming to make self-service terminals, such as public transport ticket vending machines, public information kiosks and cash dispensers, more accessible. In a first phase, 3,000 users will test different machines. The results will serve to improve interfaces so that they meet the needs of users more effectively. The trials will be conducted on cash machines in Spain and ticket vending machines in Germany.

The goal of this project is to propose a standardised framework that could foster further take-up of eaccessibility features by the ATM industry and service providers.

The tests could, for example, involve the use of a programmed card that contains information on a user’s preferences. When the user brings the card close to the ATM, the machine instantly adapts to the user’s needs, perhaps by changing the size of the font or choice of language, for example. Other interfaces could feature the use of a mobile phone with accessibility features.

In Finland, there was a problem earlier on this year when the Plan fundraising campaign at ATMs was suspended because of negative feedback. A lot of people who were withdrawing cash made a donation by mistake. When the campaign was being planned, no one had bothered to think about the elderly and other special needs groups using the ATMs. When the campaign was restarted, the donation function on the ATMs was changed so that it was clearly separate from the cash withdrawal facility.

http://www.kuluttajavirasto.fi/en-GB/articles/current-issues-in-consumer-law-6-2011/atms-in-eu-trial