Based on several reports, including one of the Tax Police, on 2 October 2012, the Italian Competition (the plaintiff) launched an investigation against the defendant, an organizer of cruise ship holidays.
In particular, the plaintiff investigated the price indications of cruise ship holidays provided on the website of the defendant, with reference to the lack of clear and complete information on the existence of additional charges, as well as their amount.
The evidence collected in the course of the investigation revealed that consumers were made aware of some additional charges only after the completion of the online reservation. Other costs were even only communicated at the end of the cruise itself. More specifically, the advertised base price was to be increased with (i) a registration fee, (ii) the price of the mandatory insurance and (iii) the service fee that was quantified and charged only at the moment of check-out.
Furthermore, the terms and conditions published on the website of the defendant did not provide clear information about the rights of withdrawal and reimbursement of the consumer in case of an increase of the price of the service. Some other essential information such as the name of the airline whose flights were included in the holiday package was neither provided to the consumers.