Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 7, 1. Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 7, 4., (c)

The omission to provide clear information on the total price, constitutes an unfair commercial practice.

On 20 June 2011, the Italian Competition Authority decided to start an investigation in order to ascertain the alleged unfairness of the online reservation system used by defendant on its Italian website for the sale of flight tickets.

In particular, the investigations related to price indications on the website of defendant (http://italia.lufthansa.com),  whereby it was established that there was a lack of clear and accurate information on the existence of additional charges, as well as the exact amount of the charges. The investigations led to the conclusion that the end price was significantly higher than the ticket price.

The evidence collected in the course of the investigations revealed that consumers were made aware of additional charges only after the completion of the online reservation. More specifically, after selecting the relevant flight, the price displayed was automatically increased with (i) a card surcharge, of which the amount depended on the means of credit/debit card (except for PayPal) used to conclude the transaction, and (ii) an additional 5 Euro charge.

The defendant claimed that the above facts occurred in very few occasions, mainly due to malfunctioning of the online reservation system.

 

Does the omission to provide clear information on the total price, constitute an unfair commercial practice?

First, the Italian Competition Authority rejected the arguments of the defendant, stating that the facts occurred in very few occasions, mainly due to malfunctioning of the online reservation system. According to the Authority, no evidence was provided proving these arguments.

In a short reasoning invoking the general principles on total price information, the Authority concluded that the failure to provide consumers with information on the final price at the beginning of the booking process, constitutes an unfair commercial practice.

In particular, the Italian Competition Authority held that the lack of information on the obligation to pay additional charges, of which the amount can be established as from the beginning of the booking process hence does not depend on the carrier's discretion, gives a false representation to the average consumer of the actual price of the service offered.

 

URL: http://www.agcm.it/consumatore/consumatore-delibere/open/C12560D000291394/76A4ED4C4ECD9340C1257966005029DC.html

Testo integrale: Testo integrale

Nessun risultato disponibile

Nessun risultato disponibile

The Italian Competition Authority decided to fine defendant with 60.000 Euro.