Businesses and arts organisations are being bombarded with threatening letters from a Spanish firm which claims they bought listings in its European City Guide (ECG) directory.

Two arts organisations in Cork -- the National Sculpture Factory (NSF) and the Cork Artists' Collective (CAC) -- claim they were unaware they were signing a contract to buy a listing in the guide for three years at between £370 and £560 a year.

From its offices in Barcelona, ECG sent each Irish organisation a form asking it to check the address on the form, complete it and "return it in the enclosed envelope, even if you do not wish to place an order". The firms did as requested.

However, at the bottom of one form, in much smaller print, the form reads: "We hereby place an order with `ECG' to print the above given details in the next and the following two editions of the `European City Guide'. The cost per insertion in each edition will be EURO 500."

The form continues: "These costs will be charged annually and in advance. They are payable three weeks from the date of invoice. Retroactive cancellation is not possible. The contract becomes valid and binding upon our receipt of this order."

ECG contains listings of businesses in European cities. It also has a primitive and poorly-designed website at www.eurocityguide.net.

When The Sunday Business Post suggested to ECG that the forms were misleading, a company spokesman replied: "No-one obliges them to return it. They are free to do what they want with it. They can throw it in the bin."

Mary McCarthy, director of the NSF, said: "If we had thought we were putting in an advertisement, we would have sent artwork and a logo, and I would have put in a paragraph.

"From this listing, you would never know what we did; it is just our name, phone, fax and e-mail. Anyone could have done it."

Michelle Whooley of CAC said: "We are included on the internet and in its next two editions. They just went to print from the original form that was returned to them. They sent us the invoice. We never got to check the ad to see if it was correct."

Both organisations have received numerous invoices and solicitors' letters, threatening legal action if they fail to pay.

Colin Daly, a legal adviser at the European Consumer Centre, described the forms as "very misleading".

He said he had received complaints about ECG from charities, professionals and small businesses over the last year. He has about 30 files on the Spanish-based company.

He advised people to be cautious and not to sign anything from ECG if they don't want to be listed. He added that if a business had signed the form unintentionally, it should write to ECG denying any intention to become contracted.

ECG is not infringing any consumer legislation, but Irish law obliges directories to print the date of publication of the directory and the price of the directory on all order forms. ECG's forms contain none of this information.

It is understood that ECG has not taken any company to court here, but several Irish businesses are understood to have paid ECG after it threatened legal action against them.

Last week, The Sunday Business Post revealed that several Swiss companies had been approaching Irish firms with similar order forms concerning listings and advertisements in European directories.