Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 6, 1. Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 6, 1., (b)

It is a misleading practice for a trader to present benefits related to a product as a bonus, whereas in reality the benefits are merely given in return for buying the product.

The defendant, a company offering communication services, launched a promotional campaign for one of it's mobile phone subscriptions.

The TV and radio commercial announced the possibility of receiving 1000 free minutes by agreeing to a mobile phone subscription having a value of 9,52 USD.

However, it was not clearly established in the promotional materials that the 1000 minutes in reality were not a bonus, and were offered in return for subscribing to the service.

Due to the alleged breach of the Romanian advertising legislation regarding misleading advertising, the National Audiovisual Council of Romania sanctioned the defendant.

The Court considered the promotional materials to be misleading.

In a short reasoning, it was held by the Court that due to the overall presentation of the subscription service, the consumer would likely be deceived to consider that the 1000 free minutes were actually a bonus, causing him to take a transactional decision, in this case subscribe to the service, he would not have taken otherwise.

Is it a misleading practice for a trader to present benefits related to a product as a bonus, whereas in reality the benefits are merely given in return for buying the product?

 

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The plaintiff's request to validate the sanctions applied to the defendant was granted.