Licensees complain about tourist directory

A Fresh raft of complaints about a tourist directory targeting licensees has come into The Publican.

Pubs across the UK are still being sent application forms to join the service, operated by Swiss firm NovaChannel AG. Licensees say the form asks them to confirm their pub

details for the directory. However, they claim it is not clear that a fee might be involved and they have, unknown to themselves, signed up to a paid-for entry.

Adrian Larner, licensee of the Calthorpe Arms in Central London, is in dispute with the company, which claims it is going to sue him for £2,415 (e3,579).

Mr Larner said: "A couple of years ago I received one of these forms in the post. I ticked the boxes and signed. Then I got the bill and wrote to cancel."

"They say they have sent it to a debt recovery agency now," he added.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Switzerland issued criminal proceedings against NovaChannel AG in September 2005, claiming it was conducting

"dubious business practices".

The investigation against NovaChannel AG is ongoing. In a statement issued in September 2005 SECO said it was obliged to submit a request for proceedings to be launched

against the directory company NovaChannel AG and the debt collection agencies OVAG International AG and Premium Recovery AG.

SECO claimed that both debt collection agencies also represent foreign business directory firms - including the European City Guide from Valencia, Spain, Construct Data

Verlag AG from Vösendorf, Austria and TVV Verlag GmbH from Hamburg, Germany, which it suspects may be involved in "dubious business practices".

The Publican asked NovaChannel AG to respond to the allegations, but it declined to comment before we went to press.

• For more information on the NovaChannel case visit www.stopecg.org/novachannel_ag.htm