The President ruled that the defendant breached the prohibition on unfair commercial practices by publishing two prices on the trader's website, the higher of which has never been applied by the trader in its commercial activity. Such commercial practice is contrary to article 5 section 1 and section 2 point 1 and section 3 in connection with article 4 section 1 and 2 of the Act on Unfair Commercial Practice.
In the opinion of the President such practice misled consumers by creating the false impression that the defendant offered a discount on the sold products. The price presented in an unfair manner has deprived the consumers of their right to compare offers and make a reasonable choice.
A trader who presents its price in the manner as described above, creates the impression that this offer is more attractive due to the fact that the consumer will obtain a financial benefit (by saving the amount that constituted the difference between the higher and the lower price) by buying a product which would not have been obtained for this price, had the consumer bought the product before the presumed discount had been introduced by the trader.
Moreover, the defendant cannot justify its commercial practice by stating that it has never expressly indicated that the difference between the two prices constituted a discount granted by this trader. In connection with this, the President stated that, based of well-established commercial practices, the consumer could reasonably assume that the trader applied a discount as indicated under "saved".
As a result of the aforementioned, the President concludes that the way of presenting the price information contributed to creating a false impression and that this impression is likely to cause the consumer to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise.
The President indicates that due to the fact that such prices were published on an internet website, the practices of the defendant could potentially affect an undetermined group of consumers, and therefore violated collective interest of the consumers.