Rechtsliteratur

Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, Article 4 Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, Article 4

Algorithmengestützte Preissetzung im Online-Einzelhandel als abgestimmte Verhaltensweise - Ein Beitrag zur Bewältigung des „Predictable Agent“ über Art. 101 Abs. 1 AEUV Vertrag über die Arbeitsweise der Europäischen Union.

Algorithm-based pricing in online retailing changes the functional conditions of competition. The enormous speed of price competition in the highly transparent markets of the digital economy promotes interdependent behavioural strategies between competitors with a tendency towards supra-competitive prices, even in markets with a non-oligopolistic structure. For this reason, standards are being developed under which companies can leave the area of market-induced parallel behaviour and the use of automated price algorithms can be recorded as a concerted practice within the meaning of Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Art. 4 of Directive 2006/114/EC. A minimum degree of transparency is  required also with regard to the price components. The Federal Court of Justice, for example, in the absence of information that a price comparison portal only accepts providers who have committed to pay a commission, considers this to be a violation of the prohibition of misleading advertising within the meaning of paragraphs 5, 5a of the Unfair Competition Act.