The European Parliament gave its stamp of approval to new rules on selling financial products over the Internet, Reuters reported.
The new legislation bans sending unsolicited products for prospective customers and charging them for these. Unsolicited e-mail would also be prohibited, according to the report.
Under the rules, companies would have to provide detailed information about products before selling them. Customers could pull out from a contract after a cooling off period of up to 30 days for pension funds.
Member nations can choose whether they want customers to be able to opt in or opt out of receiving offers. The direct marketing industry criticized this provision, saying it went against the goal of creating a single market for online selling of financial goods, according to Reuters.
In 1997, the European Union introduced rules for the distance selling of good throughout the 15 participating nations, but left out financial services.
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