Commission Guidance on the interpretation and application of Directive (98/6/EC) on consumer protection in the indication of the prices

Directive 98/6/EC (‘PID’) aims to enable consumers to easily evaluate and compare the price of products on the basis of homogenous and transparent information. Thus, consumers are able to make better informed choices. The new Article 6a of the PID addresses the issue of transparency of price reductions by introducing specific rules to ensure that they are genuine. Article 6a aims at preventing traders from artificially inflating the reference price and/or misleading consumers about the amount of the discount. It increases transparency and ensures that consumers actually pay less for the goods when a price reduction is announced. The new provision on price reductions also enables the enforcement and market surveillance authorities to control more easily the fairness of price reductions, as it set clear rules on the reference ‘prior’ price on which the announced reduction must be based. This training material provides guidelines on how these new provisions on the announcements of price reductions should be interpreted and applied. To ensure legal certainty and facilitate enforcement, this training material highlights issues that are common to all Member States, including the interplay between the PID and other EU legislation. The training material is addressed to justice professionals in all the EU Member States and to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The training material is accessible in all official EU languages.