European Union – Consumer protection. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling in which it decided that the concept of basic rate referred to in art 21 of Directive 2011/83/EU should be interpreted as meaning that charges for a call, relating to a contract concluded with a trader, to a telephone helpline operated by the trader could not exceed the cost of a call to a standard geographic landline or mobile telephone line. Provided that the limit was respected, the fact that a trader might or did not make a profit through a non-geographic helpline was irrelevant.