Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 6, 2., (a)

It is unfair for a trader to advertise a car by comparing its price to the prices of competitors, when the trader's price does not include the special car registration tax, while the competitors' prices do include this tax. All public announcements of prices that refer to the same characteristics of a category of products must allow consumers to compare products of the same category based on the same criteria for all suppliers.

The Ombudsman of the Consumer received a number of consumer reports stating that a specific car importing company (member of the Association of Car Importers Agents) did not include in its final prices the special registration tax that applies to all the cars that are imported in the country. These prices, excluding the special registration tax, were included in comparative pricing lists that were published in car and motorcycle magazines and in various advertisements. 



These facts were confirmed by the research conducted by the Ombudsman.

Is it an unfair commercial practice to not include the special tax on a product in the advertised price for this product, in particular when the price is then compared to the price of other traders who do include this tax?

The Ombudsman stated that all public announcements of prices that refer to the same characteristics of a category of products or have the same target:

(1) must be based on common criteria for all the competitors, that allow an objective comparison to take place which will lead to an honest result for both the consumers and the competitors;



(2) must not infringe the healthy competition rules that apply between the competitors; and 



(3) must not infringe the consumer’s right to transparent information regarding the essential characteristics of the products.

URL: http://www.synigoroskatanaloti.gr/docs/reports/2010-04-23.%CE%A3%CF%8D%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%B7%20%CF%83%CE%B5%20%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%B5%CF%82%20auto-moto.pdf

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The Ombudsman of the Consumer suggested to the Association of Car Importers Agent to deal with this issue by proceeding with a direct and austere recommendation to its members to publish the prices of the new vehicles in a legitimate way that respects the consumers’ rights of transparent information and abides by the principles of healthy competition.