Cultural organizations Museumkaart and CJP adjust their membership conditions

Museumkaart and CJP have adjusted their practices after the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) had reprimanded them. These organizations now comply with the rules about membership renewals and cancellations. Both organizations used to renew memberships automatically with another year, without giving members the opportunity to cancel the membership in between.

Adjusted practices of Museumkaart and CJP

Starting today, Museumkaart will offer 1-year memberships. After this initial period, memberships will no longer be renewed automatically. Instead, consumers will receive a message that their memberships are about to expire, and will then have the option of renewing their memberships. If the consumer does not do anything, their membership will end. Museumkaart will inform its current members about how to cancel their automatically renewed memberships.

CJP chooses to renew memberships automatically. After the initial 1-year period, consumers are able to cancel their memberships at any time each month. Any excess membership fees will be refunded to consumers.

A Museumkaart membership offers consumers easy access to approximately 400 Dutch museums. CJP offers discounts for festivals, concerts, theaters and museums to youths between the ages of 18 and 30.

Rules about membership cancellations and renewals

If you sign a contract for a specific period, it will end after that initially agreed upon period. The provider may decide to renew the contract automatically for an indefinite period of time. During this renewal period, you have the opportunity to cancel at any time. However, a notice period does apply sometimes. Such periods cannot be longer than one month.

Swift approach to consumer problems

ACM has many different instruments at its disposal for solving consumer problems. When selecting the right approach, ACM puts consumers first. In this case, ACM prefers to call the companies to account instead of imposing fines, because the problem is solved more quickly this way. Through reports filed with ConsuWijzer, ACM will keep monitoring whether the organizations implement (or continue to implement) the agreed adjustments.