Inertia Selling
The Directive prohibits the use of inertia selling as a legitimate means of marketing. This is where the onus is placed upon the customer to inform the company that he/she does not want the product or service. A recent example concerns the case of Marks and Spencer and its store card. Marks and Spencer had intended to upgrade the store card to a credit card. M&S decided to use inertia selling, that is all customers who had a store card would automatically be transferred over to the new credit card and their old store card withdrawn. Interestingly, the credit terms of the new credit card are actually more generous towards the customer than the old store card. However, the principle is strictly applied since of course the new deal could easily be a worse deal for the consumer. Thus, in light of pressure from various financial organisations and the Office of Fair Trading M&S changed their position. The customer should be in the driving position not the financial services company. If a customer wants a new card then they should ask for it. Article 9 provides for the rule against inertia selling.  Note that silence does not constitute tacit consent.
 

Unsolicited Communications

The issue of unsolicited communications is closely related to that of inertia selling and can be seen as another from of consumer protection. Note that Article 10 of the Directive is almost identical to the equivalent provision英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】 of the E-commerce Directive. That is, member States are still entitled to either implement an opt-in or opt-out system and suppliers can only use automated calling machines and fax machines if prior consent has been obtained.  Remember as well that the new Privacy in Electronic Communications Directive only applies to providers of electronic communications and does not extend to the use of direct marketing – this area of unsolicited communications is either regulated generally by the E-commerce Directive or specifically by the present directive in the case of Financial Services. 

Information Requirements

A number of Articles in the Directive address this issue. Firstly, Article 3 provides for information before the contract is concluded. The objective is clear – the consumer can  to "properly appraise the financial service offered to him/her and hence make a well-informed choice."
In the case of telephones sales, suppliers must, at the beginning of any conversation with a consumer the identity of the person in contact with the consumer and his or her link to the supplier, the purpose of the call, and a description of the main characteristics of the financial service.
Generally, the consumer must be provided with the following information;

As to the Supplier
 Identity and main business and relevant geographical  addresses
 Identity of supplier’s representative and address
 Identity of the professiona 本文来自：英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】