Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: 4Ob29/13p
    • Member State: Austria
    • Common Name:Versandapotheke für Österreich
    • Decision type: Supreme court decision
    • Decision date: 23/05/2013
    • Court: Supreme Court (Vienna)
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: Unknown
    • Defendant: Unknown
    • Keywords: material information, misleading advertising, misleading commercial practices, misleading statements, terms & conditions
  • Directive Articles
    Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 6, 1., (f)
  • Headnote
    It constitutes a misleading commercial practice to create the false impression that the trader is established in a European Member State, whereas in reality it is established in another Member State.
  • Facts
    The plaintiff is an official legal entity representing the interests of Austrian pharmacies. The defendant is a pharmacy with its registered seat in the Czech Republic and the defendant provides delivery services as well.

    As such, the defendant operated the web pages www.vfg-apotheke.at and www.zurrose.at directed at German-speaking customers in Austria. The defendant has advertised its company as "delivery pharmacy for Austria", "delivery exclusively to Austria, since products approved in Austria may not be delivered abroad", "fast delivery with Austrian Post" etc.

    An Austrian (Vienna) postal address was offered as address for written orders. The fact that the defendant's seat is in Czech Republic was only apparent from the general terms and conditions and the legal notice.

    The plaintiff has requested that the defendant should cease and desist to use the above mentioned websites and offer services to Austrian customers by inducing the customers to believe that the defendant is registered in Austria.

    The first judge was of the opinion that this practice constituted a misleading practice as consumer are let to believe that the defendant was established somewhere where it was not. The information given in the legal notices on the website were not sufficient to change the overall impression that the defendant was established in Austria.

    During the appeal proceedings, the court of appeal from its side ruled that the information contained in the legal notices did suffice to appropriately inform the consumers of the correct address of the defendant's seat.

     
  • Legal issue
    The Supreme Court assessed the general market presence of the defendant as described above as misleading, arguing that it is to be assumed that the aggregate circumstances (.at domain, multiple references to Austria and Austrian market) are misleading for an average customer.

    The references to Czech Republic in the legal notice and the general terms and conditions were, according to the Supreme Court, not sufficient to clarify the matter, since it is to be assumed that an average customer, who is already under the impression that the defendant is registered in Austria, would likely not verify this by viewing the legal notice and the terms and conditions.

    The Supreme Court confirmed in principle the decision of the first instance court and overruled the decision of the court of appeal.

     
  • Decision

    Does it constitute a misleading commercial practice to create the false impression that the trader is established in a European Member State, whereas in reality it is established in another Member State?

     

    Full text: Full text

  • Related Cases

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  • Result
    Repeal of the court of appeal's decision and reinstatement of the first instance court's decision which ordered the defendant to cease and desist the practice in question.