The Italian Competition Authority held that the activities conducted by the defendants constituted unfair commercial practices.
In a short reasoning, it was held that the failure to provide sufficient information to consumers intending to take a transactional decision, on a mandatory (free) two-year guarantee on consumer products, at retail outlets and/or on the websites of the trader is misleading.
The Competition Authority further found that the defendants prevented consumers from exercising their rights to obtain free technical support by inducing them to believe that only a conventional 1-year guarantee of the trader was applicable.
In short, it was held by the Authority that the incomplete and misleading information on the extension and scope of the conventional commercial guarantees additionally provided by the professional, combined with the lack of transparency on the existence of the two-years legal guarantee, prevented consumers from taking an informed transactional decision on the purchase of goods and on the subscription of a paid-for additional contractual guarantee.
URL: http://www.agcm.it/consumatore/consumatore-delibere/open/C12560D000291394/57606ADEA5842FF6C1257981004A4E99.html
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