Unfair commercial practices and misleading and comparative advertising: An analysis of the harmonization of EU legislation in view of the Italian implementation of the rules

Competition Policy International

Volumn 4, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 193-222

  Tesauro, Claudio ^a   Russo, Francesco ^a,b  

^a Bonelli Erede Pappalardo   (Italy)

^b UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 70350151116     PISSN: 15540189     EISSN: 15546853     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (95)

1. Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC & 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 2005 O.J. (L 149) 22 [hereinafter Directive].
2. Decreto Legislativo 2 agosto 2007, No. 145, Attuazione dell'articolo 14 della direttiva 2005/29/CE che modifica la direttiva 84/450/CEE sulla pubblicità ingannevole (GU 207 del 6/9/2007) and Decreto Legislativo 2 agosto 2007, No. 146, attuazione della direttiva 2005/29/CE relativa alle pratiche commerciali sleali tra imprese e consumatori nel mercato interno e che modifica le direttive 84/450/CEE, 97/7/CE, 98/27/CE, 2002/65/CE, e il Regolamento (CE) 2006/2004 (GU 207 del 6/9/2007) [hereinafter Consumers' Code]. In particular, LD 146 has completely renewed articles 18 to 27 of the Consumers' Code (Legislative Decree 206/2005).
3. See, in particular, J. Stuyck, E. Terryn, & T. Van Dyck, Confidence through fairness? The new Directive on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market, 43 COMMON MKT. L. REV. 107 (2006);
4. T. Bourgoigne, Characteristic of consumer law, 14(3) J. CONSUMER POL'Y 293 (1991).
5. More generally, see H.W. Micklitz, An expanded and systemised Community Consumer law as alternative or complement?, 13(6) EUR. BUS. L. REV. 583 (2002).
6. Examples of significant cost-benefit analysis oriented amendments to national legislations are detectable in, among others, the Netherlands (1997) and Germany (2001).
7. Consumer protection became an autonomous policy aim in 1987 with the adoption of the Single European Act. A specific legal basis for pursuing consumer protection policies was provided in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Treaty of Maastricht) which introduced a special Title IX on consumer protection.
8. Stuyck et al. (2006), supra note 3, at 110.
9. See K. J. CSERES, COMPETITION LAW AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 193-202 (The Hague, 2005);
10. N. REICH & H.W. MICKLITZ, CONSUMER LEGISLATION IN EC COUNTRIES, A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS (1980);
11. H.W. Micklitz, A General Framework Directive on Fair Trading, in THE FORTHCOMING EC DIRECTIVE ON UNFAIR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES (Collins ed., 2004).
12. See Directive 84/450/EEC, 1984 O.J. (L 250) 17; Directive 85/577/EEC, 1985 O.J. (L 372) 31; Directive 89/522/EEC as amended by Directive 97/36/EC, 1989 O.J. (L 202) 23; Directive 93/13/EEC, 1993 O.J. (L 96) 29; Directive 94/47/EC, 1994 O.J. (L 280) 83; Directive 97/7/EC, 1997 O.J. (L 144) 19; Directive 97/55/EC, 1997 O.J. (L 290) 18; Directive 99/44/EC, 1999 O.J. (L 171) 12 . (Listed here in the same order as in the text of the paper.)
13. On this regard, see Case C-362/88, GB INNO BM v. Commission, 1990 E.C.R. 667; G. Howells & T. Wilhelmsson, EC Consumer Law: Has it come of age, 28(3) EUR. L. REV. (2003);
14. G. Howells & T. Wilhelmsson, EC and US approach to consumer protection - should the gap be bridged?, in THE YEARBOOK OF EUROPEAN LAW 17 (A. Barav et al. eds., 1997), at 207-67;
15. Stuyck et al. (2006), supra note 3, at 108.
16. Le Marché Intérieur après 1992: répondre au défi, Rapport présenté à la Commission par le Groupe à haut niveau sur la fonctionnement du Marché Intérieur (Sutherland report) (1992).
17. EUROPEAN COMMISSION, GREEN PAPER ON ON EUROPEAN UNION CONSUMER PROTECTION, COM(2001) 531 final (Oct. 2, 2001).
18. Stuyck et al. (2006), supra note 3, at 116.
19. See Case C-376/98, Germany v. Parliament and Council, 2000 E.C.R I-8419.
20. Explanatory Memorandum concerning the original Proposal for a Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices, COM (2003) 356 final.
21. On the necessity to leave some room for State intervention, see CSERES (2005), supra note 5. See also H.W. Micklitz & S.Weatherhill, Consumer Policy in the European Community: before and after Maastricht, 16(3-4) J. CONSUMER POL'Y 379 (2002).
22. See Stuyck et al. (2006), supra note 3, at 143 et seq., in particular the interesting parallel with the conclusions of the Committee of wise man on the regulation of European securities markets of February 2gg1.
23. Directive, supra note 1, at art. 3.
24. Id. at art. 3(2).
25. Id. at art. 3(3).
26. Id. at art. 3(7).
27. Id. at art. 3(8).
28. See recently, inter alia, Case C-412/05 P, Alcon v. OHIM, 2007 E.C.R. I-nyr (judgment of Apr. 26, 2007); Case C-74/06, Commission v. Greece, 2007 E.C.R. II-nyr (judgment of Sep. 20, 2007); or see also, tracing back a consolidated case law, Case C-470/93, Mars, 1995 E.C.R. I-1923 and Case C-342/97, Lloyd Schuhfabrik Meyer, 1999 E.C.R. I-3819.
29. See, inter alia, Case 1263/2006, Consiglio di Stato (judgment of Mar. 8, 2006).
30. Directive, supra note 1, at art. 2.
31. Consumers' Code, supra note 2, at art. 18.
32. Article 20 of the Italian Consumers' Code (id.), as general prohibited category, refers to "incorrect" commercial practices rather than to "unfair" (like in the original formulation of the Directive). This terminological discrepancy is due to the need to avoid confusions and overlapping with the provisions of the civil code on unfair competition.
33. Directive, supra note 1, at recital 6.
34. Id. at art 5(3).
35. Consumers' Code, supra note 2, at art. 27(5).
36. Directive, supra note 1, at art. 5(3).
37. Id. at recital 13.
38. Id. at cfr. art. 6.
39. Id.
40. Id. at cfr. art. 6(2). The last criterion is the same one adopted both in the general prohibition clause and in the rest of the provisions on misleading practices.
41. See, in particular, Article 2598 of the Italian civil code.
42. Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 concerning misleading and comparative advertising (codified version) (Text with EEA relevance), 2006 O.J. (L 376) 21 [hereinafter Directive 114].
43. Consumers' Code, supra note 2, at cfr. art. 21(3).
44. Id. at cfr. Art. 21(4).
45. Directive, supra note 1, at art. 7(1).
46. Id. at cfr. art. 7(2).
47. Id. at art. 7(3).
48. A non-exhaustive list of the Communitarian information requirements is contained in Annex II of the Directive.
49. In this regard, see the prospected contractual implication of recital 15 on the national legal system in Stuyck et al. (2006), supra note 3, at 129-30.
50. Directive, supra note 1, at cfr. art. 8.
51. Id. at art. 2.
52. See also L. Di Nella, Prime considerazioni sulla disciplina delle pratiche commerciali aggressive, in CONTRATTO E IMPRESA IN EUROPA 1 (2007).
53. Directive, supra note 1, at cfr. art. 9.
54. Id. at cfr. annex 1. The expiration date has not been respected strictly by all Member States. For example, the United Kingdom has announced that it will implement the Directive by April 2008, see Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, at http://www.berr.gov.uk/consumers/buying-selling/ucp/index.html (last visited Feb. 15, 2008).
55. Directive, supra note 1, at 26 (annex I).
56. Regulation 19/65/EEC of 2 March of the Council on application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements and concerted practices, 1965 O.J. (L 36) 533.
57. Now Article 81(1).
58. Ibidem at art. 1(2).
59. See, in particular, Regulation 2790/1999 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices, 1999 O.J. (L 336) 1; Regulation 2958/2000 on the application of Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty to categories of specialization agreements, 2000 O.J. (L304) 3; Regulation 2659/2000 on the application of Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty to categories of research and development agreements, 2000 O.J. (L 304) 7, all of which are still in force.
60. See supra text, at Section II.A.
61. The original Proposal for the Directive, supra note 14, at art. 4 provided that:
62. Traders shall only comply with the national provisions, falling within the field approximated by this Directive, of the Member State in which they are established. The Member State in which the trader is established shall ensure such compliance.
63. Member States shall neither restrict the freedom to provide services nor restrict the free movement of goods for reasons falling within the field approximated by this Directive.
64. See European Consumer Law Group, Proposed Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices, ECLG/134/ 2004 (Dec. 2004), available at www. europeanconsumerlawgroup.org; T. Wilhelmsson, The Abuse of the Confident Consumer as a Justification for EC Consumer Law, 27(3) J. CONSUMER POL'Y 317 (2004).
65. Council Directive 84/450/EEC of 10 September 1984 relating to the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning misleading advertising, 1984 O.J. (L 250) 17.
66. See Directive, supra note 1, at art. 14.
67. Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts, 1997 O.J. (L 144) 19.
68. Directive 98/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on injunctions for the protection of consumers' interests, 1998 O.J. (L 166) 51.
69. Regulation (EC) No. 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws (the Regulation on consumer protection cooperation)Text with EEA relevance, 2004 O.J. (L 364) 1.
70. Directive, supra note 1, at recital 10.
71. Id. at art. 3(5).
72. Le nuove regole delle pratiche commerciali aggressive, sleali, ingannevoli, ITA Conference Milan (Nov. 15-16, 2007).
73. Directive 114, supra note 36, at cf. art. 3.
74. See page X of this paper. 67 Consumers' Code, supra note 2, at art. 7.
75. Id. at art. 11-13.
76. Id. at art. 11(1).
77. This power is granted by Article 8(2) of LD 145 in case of misleading and comparative advertising and by Article 27(2) of the Consumers' Code in case of unfair business-to-consumer practices.
78. Procedural regulations, infra note 70, at art. 5. Also these provisions are not entirely clear about what type of "interest" an organization must have to ask the Authority intervention.
79. The power to self-adopt procedural regulations is granted to the Autorità under Article 8(11) of LD 145 in case of misleading and comparative advertising and under Article 27(11) of the Consumers' Code in case of unfair business-to-consumer practices.
80. Regolamento sulle procedure istruttorie in materia di pubblicità ingannevole e comparativa illecita (adopted with decision 17590/2007 on the 15 November 2007, GU 283/2007) and Regolamento sulle procedure istruttorie in materia di pratiche commerciali scorrette (adopted with decision 17589/2007 on the 15 November 2007, GU 283/2007) [hereinafter Procedural regulations].
81. Procedural regulations, supra note 72, at art. 4.
82. Id. at art. 12.
83. Id. at art. 14.
84. Consumers' Code, supra note 2, at art. 8(5) of LD 145 & 27(5).
85. Procedural regulations, supra note 72, at art. 15.
86. See Consumers' Code, supra note 2, at rt. 8(7) of LD 145 & 27(7). Those provisions have been specified and implemented by Article 8 of the Procedural regulations (supra note 72).
87. Referring to Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (2003 O.J. (L 1) 1), Legislative Decree 223/2006 has introduced the new Art. 14ter of the Italian Competition Act (l. 287/1990). The new article allows firms to offer commitments aimed at meeting concerns expressed by the Autorità and at eliminating the alleged anticompetitive conducts. See W. P. J. Wils, Settlement of EU Antitrust Investigations: Commitment Decisions under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003, 29(3) WORLD COMPETITION 345 (2006);
88. L. Di Via, Le decisioni in material di impegni nella prassi decisionale dell?autorità garante, IX(2) MERCATO CONCORRENZA E REGOLE 229 (2007);
89. F. Cintioli, Le nuove misure riparatorie del danno alla concorrenza, in I GIURISPRUDENZA COMMERCIALE 1 (forthcoming 2008).
90. Procedural regulations, supra note 72, at art 9.
91. Law Decree 223/2006 (that later become Law N. 248/2006) has introduced the new Article 14bis of the Italian Competition Act (l. 287/1990) allowing the Autorità to adopt interim measures in cases of urgency due to the risk of serious and irreparable damage to competition.
92. Directive, supra note 1, at art. 10.
93. See Consumers' Code, supra note 2, at art. 27bis.
94. Id. at art. 27quater.
95. See Stuyck et al. (2006), supra note 3, at 132-34.