Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: link
    • Member State: Germany
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Supreme court decision
    • Decision date: 14/01/2016
    • Court: Federal Court of Justice
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: Unknown
    • Defendant: Unknown
    • Keywords: price indication, unfair commercial practices
  • Directive Articles
    Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 7, 4., (c)
  • Headnote
    (1) Advertisements for services/products for which the total proce cannot reasonably be calculated in advance due to the nature of the services/products must inform the potential customer of the relevant cost calculation and any related costs in order to avoid violating unfair competition law as misleading advertising.

    (2) A funeral operator who advertises the costs for his services, specifying prices for individual types of burial, shall indicate the relevant cost calculation parameters and their amount for the burial costs incurred at each burial, either in the form of a transfer fee or the average price per kilometer.
  • Facts
    The parties operate funeral services. The defendant used an advertising flyer that contained a price table which set out the various types of services, coffins and urns and individually indicated their prices. The lowest price for individual types of burial is shown in the bottom line of the table. The following sentence appeared below the table: "We would like to draw your attention to the fact that there are further costs, eg transfer, grave works."

    The applicant contends that this advertising is contrary to the price regulation and is misleading because, at each burial, there were transfer costs incurred in the form of distance fares or a cost per kilometre for transfer.
  • Legal issue
    A funeral operator who advertises the costs for his services, specifying prices for individual types of burial, must indicate the relevant cost calculation parameters and their amount for the burial costs incurred at each burial in order to avoid violating unfair competition law as misleading advertising.
  • Decision

    (1) Must advertisements for services/products for which the total price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance due to the nature of the services/products inform the potential customer of the relevant cost calculation and any related costs in order to avoid violating unfair competition law as misleading advertising?

    (2) Must a funeral operator who advertises the costs for his services, specifying prices for individual types of burial, indicate the relevant cost calculation parameters and their amount for the burial costs incurred at each burial in order to avoid violating unfair competition law as misleading advertising?

    URL: http://openjur.de/u/877942.html

    Full text: Full text

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  • Result
    The appeal was successful in part. The amount of warning damages was reduced and the injunction was repealed.