24.3.2005 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 79/1 DECISION NO 456/2005/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 March 2005 establishing a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 157(3) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), After consulting the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2), Whereas: (1) The evolution of the information society and the emergence of broadband will influence the life of every citizen in the European Union by, inter alia, stimulating access to knowledge and new ways of acquiring knowledge, thus increasing the demand for new content, applications and services. (2) Internet penetration in the Community is still growing considerably. The opportunities offered by the Internet should be exploited in order to enable every individual and organisation in the Community to enjoy the social and economic benefits of sharing information and knowledge. The stage has now been set in Europe to exploit the potential of digital content. (3) The conclusions of the European Council held in Lisbon on 23 and 24 March 2000 stressed that the shift to a digital, knowledge-based economy, prompted by new goods and services, will be a powerful engine for growth, competitiveness and jobs. On that occasion the role of the content industries in creating added value by exploiting and networking European cultural diversity was specifically recognised. (4) The eEurope 2005 Action Plan, developing the Lisbon strategy, calls for actions to stimulate the emergence of secure services, applications and content over broadband networks and thus to provide a favourable environment for private investment, for the creation of new jobs, to boost productivity, to modernise public services and to give everyone the opportunity to participate in the global information society. (5) The demand for quality digital content in Europe, with balanced access and user rights, by a broad community, be they citizens in society, students, researchers, SMEs and other business users, or people with special needs wishing to augment their knowledge, or ‘re‐users’ wishing to exploit digital content resources to create services, is increasingly apparent. (6) Digital content stakeholders are content providers (including public and private organisations and institutions that create, collect or own digital content) and content users (including organisations and enterprises that are end-users that reuse and/or add value to digital content). Particular attention should be given to the participation of SMEs. (7) The eContent Programme (2001 to 2004) adopted by Council Decision 2001/48/EC (3), favoured the development and use of European digital content on the Internet and the linguistic diversity of European websites in the information society. The Commission Communication of 10 October 2003 concerning the mid-term evaluation of the eContent Programme reaffirms the importance of acting in this field. (8) Technological advances offer the potential to add value to content in the form of embedded knowledge and to improve interoperability at the service level, which is fundamental to accessing and using and distributing digital content. This is particularly relevant to those areas of public interest to be addressed by this programme. (9) Fostering of solid business models will enhance the continuity of the projects initiated under this programme, and will thus improve the conditions for greater economic return from services based on access to, and reuse of, digital content. (10) A legislative framework has been defined to deal with the challenges of digital content in the information society (4) (5) (6). (11) Different practices among Member States continue to pose technical obstacles impeding wide access, use, reuse and exploitation of public sector information in the Community. (12) Where the digital content involves personal data, Directives 95/46/EC (7) and 2002/58/EC (8) should be respected and the technologies used should respect and, where possible, enhance privacy. (13) Community actions undertaken concerning the content of information should promote the Community's multilingual and multicultural specificity. (14) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (9). (15) The Commission should ensure complementarity and synergy with related Community initiatives and programmes, in particular those related to education and culture and to the European interoperability framework. (16) This Decision lays down, for the entire duration of the programme, a financial framework constituting the prime reference, within the meaning of point 33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure (10), for the budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure. (17) Since the objectives of the proposed action, namely aiming at making digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States due to the transnational character of the issues at stake and can therefore, by reason of the European scope and effects of the actions, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives, HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: Article 1 Objective of the Programme 1. This Decision establishes a Community programme for the period 2005 to 2008 to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable, facilitating the creation and diffusion of information, in areas of public interest, at Community level. The programme shall be known as the‘eContentplus’ programme (hereinafter the Programme). 2. In order to attain the overall aim of the Programme, the following lines of action shall be addressed: (a) facilitating at Community level access to digital content, its use and exploitation; (b) facilitating improvement of quality and enhancing best practice related to digital content between content providers and users, and across sectors; (c) reinforcing cooperation between digital content stakeholders and awareness. The activities to be carried out under those lines of action target areas of public sector information, spatial data and educational, cultural and scientific content as set out in Annex I. The Programme shall be implemented in accordance with Annex II. Article 2 Participation 1. Participation in the Programme shall be open to legal entities established in the Member States. It shall also be open to participation of legal entities established in the candidate countries in accordance with bilateral agreements in existence or to be concluded with those countries. 2. Participation in the Programme may be opened to legal entities established in EFTA States which are contracting parties to the EEA Agreement, in accordance with the provisions of that Agreement. 3. Participation in the Programme may be opened, without financial support by the Community, to legal entities established in third countries and to international organisations, where such participation contributes effectively to the implementation of the Programme. The decision to allow such participation shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 4(2). Article 3 Competences of the Commission 1. The Commission shall be responsible for the implementation of the Programme. 2. The Commission shall draw up a work programme on the basis of this Decision. 3. In the implementation of the Programme, the Commission shall, in close cooperation with the Member States, ensure general consistency and complementarity with other relevant Community policies, programmes and actions that impinge upon the development and use of European digital content and the promotion of linguistic diversity in the information society, in particular the Community research and technological development programmes, IDA, eTEN, eInclusion, eLearning, Modinis and Safer Internet. 4. The Commission shall act in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 4(2) for the purposes of the following: (a) adoption and modifications of the work programme; (b) determination of the criteria and content of calls for proposals, in line with the objectives set out in Article 1; (c) assessment of the projects proposed under calls for proposals for Community funding of an estimated amount of Community contribution equal to, or more than, EUR 1 million; (d) any departure from the rules set out in Annex II. 5. The Commission shall inform the committee referred to in Article 4 of progress with the implementation of the Programme. Article 4 Committee 1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months. 3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure. Article 5 Monitoring and evaluation 1. In order to ensure that Community aid is used efficiently, the Commission shall ensure that actions under this Decision are subject to prior appraisal, follow-up and subsequent evaluation. 2. The Commission shall monitor the implementation of projects under the Programme. The Commission shall evaluate the manner in which the projects have been carried out and the impact of their implementation in order to assess whether the original objectives have been achieved. 3. The Commission shall report on the implementation of the lines of action referred to in Article 1(2) to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions by mid-2006 at the latest. In this context, the Commission shall report on the consistency of the amount for 2007 to 2008 with the financial perspective. If applicable, the Commission shall take the necessary steps within the budgetary procedures for 2007 to 2008 to ensure the consistency of the annual appropriations with the financial perspective. The Commission shall submit a final evaluation report at the end of the Programme. 4. The Commission shall forward the results of its quantitative and qualitative evaluations to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals for the amendment of this Decision. The results shall be forwarded before presentation of the draft general budget of the European Union for the years 2007 and 2009 respectively. Article 6 Financial framework 1. The financial framework for the implementation of the Community actions under this Decision for the period from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2008 is hereby set at EUR 149 million, of which EUR 55,6 million is for the period until 31 December 2006. 2. For the period following 31 December 2006, the amount shall be deemed to be confirmed if it is consistent for this phase with the financial perspective in force for the period commencing in 2007. 3. The annual appropriations for the period from 2005 to 2008 shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial perspective. An indicative breakdown of expenditure is given in Annex III. Done at Strasbourg, 9 March 2005. For the European Parliament The President J. P. BORRELL FONTELLES For the Council The President N. SCHMIT (1) OJ C 117, 30.4.2004, p. 49. (2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 22 April 2004 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 24 September 2004 (OJ C 25 E, 1.2.2005, p. 19) and Position of the European Parliament of 27 January 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Council Decision of 28 February 2005. (3) OJ L 14, 18.1.2001, p. 32. (4) Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the reuse of public sector information (OJ L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 90). (5) Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, (OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10). (6) Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases (OJ L 77, 27.3.1996, p. 20). (7) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31). Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1). (8) Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37). (9) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. (10) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1. Agreement as amended by Decision 2003/429/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 147, 14.6.2003, p. 25). ANNEX I Actions I. INTRODUCTION eContentplus has the overall aim of making digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable, facilitating the creation and diffusion of information, in areas of public interest, at Community level. It will create better conditions for accessing and managing digital content and services in multilingual and multicultural environments. It will broaden users' choice and support new ways of interacting with knowledge-enhanced digital content, a feature which is becoming essential to make content more dynamic and tailored to specific contexts (learning, cultural, people with special needs, etc.). The Programme will pave the way for a structured framework for quality digital content in Europe — The European Digital Content Area — by facilitating transfer of experiences, best practice and cross-fertilisation between content sectors, content providers and users. (a) facilitating at Community level access to digital content, its use and exploitation; (b) facilitating improvement of quality and enhancing best practice related to digital content between content providers and users, and across sectors; (c) reinforcing cooperation between digital content stakeholders and awareness. II. LINES OF ACTION A. Facilitating at Community level access to digital content, its use and exploitation The activities to be carried out under this line of action encompass the establishment of networks and alliances between stakeholders, encouraging the creation of new services. Target areas are public sector information, spatial data, learning and cultural content.Focus will be on: (a) supporting a wider recognition of the importance of public sector information (PSI), its commercial value and associated societal implications of its use. Activities shall improve effective cross-border use and exploitation of PSI between public sector organisations and private companies, including SMEs, for added-value information products and services; (b) encouraging a wider use of spatial data by public sector bodies, private companies, including SMEs, and citizens through cooperation mechanisms at European level. Activities should tackle both technical and organisational issues, avoiding duplications and underdeveloped territorial data sets. They should promote cross-border interoperability, supporting coordination between mapping agencies and fostering the emergence of new services at European level for mobile users. They should also support the use of open standards; (c) fostering the proliferation of open European knowledge pools of digital objects, for education and research communities, as well as the individual. The activities will support the creation of trans-European brokering services for digital learning content, with associated business models. The activities should also encourage the use of open standards, and the creation of large user groups analysing and testing pre-standardisation and specifications schemes with a view to conveying European multilingual and multicultural aspects into the process of definition of global standards for digital learning content; (d) promoting the emergence of trans-European information infrastructures for accessing and using high quality European digital cultural and scientific resources through the linking of virtual libraries, community memories, etc. Activities should encompass coordinated approaches to digitisation and collection building, preservation of digital objects and inventories of cultural and scientific digital resources. They should improve access to digital cultural and scientific assets through effective licensing schemes and collective pre-emptive clearing of rights. B. Facilitating improvement of quality and enhancing best practice related to digital content between content providers and users, and across sectors The activities to be carried out under this line of action are intended to facilitate the identification and wide diffusion of best practice in methods, processes and operations to achieve higher quality, greater efficiency and effectiveness in the creation, use and distribution of digital content. These activities encompass experiments that demonstrate searchability, usability, reusability, composability and interoperability of digital content within the context of the existing legal framework while meeting from the early stage of the process the requirements of different target groups and markets in an increasingly multilingual and multicultural environment, and extending beyond mere localisation technologies. These activities will exploit the benefits of enhancing digital content with machine‐understandable data (semantically well-defined metadata based on relevant descriptive terminology, vocabularies and ontologies). The experiments will be conducted in thematic clusters. The gathering, dissemination and cross-sector fertilisations of gained knowledge will be an integral part of the experiments. Target application areas are public sector information, spatial data, digital learning and cultural content, as well as scientific and scholarly digital content. C. Reinforcing cooperation between digital content stakeholders and awareness The activities to be carried out under this line of action include measures accompanying relevant legislation relating to digital content, and fostering increased collaboration between digital content stakeholders, as well as awareness building. These activities will support the development of benchmarking, monitoring and analysis tools, the impact assessment of the Programme and the dissemination of results. They will identify and analyse emerging opportunities and problems (e.g. trust, quality marking, intellectual property rights in education) and propose, as appropriate, solutions. ANNEX II The means for implementing the programme 1. The Commission will implement the Programme in accordance with the technical content specified in Annex I. 2. The Programme will be executed through indirect action comprising: (a) shared-cost actions (i) Projects designed to increase knowledge so as to improve existing products, processes and/or services and/or to meet the needs of Community policies. The Community funding will normally not exceed 50 % of the cost of the project. Public sector bodies may be reimbursed on the basis of 100 % of additional costs. (ii) Best practice actions to spread knowledge. They will normally be conducted in thematic clusters and linked through thematic networks. The Community contribution for the measures set out under this point will be limited to direct costs deemed necessary or appropriate for achieving the specific objectives of the action. (iii) Thematic networks: networks bringing together a variety of stakeholders around a given technological and organisational objective, so as to facilitate coordination activities and the transfer of knowledge. They may be linked to best practice actions. Support will be granted towards the additional eligible costs of coordinating and implementing the network. The Community participation may cover the additional eligible costs of these measures; (b) accompanying measures Accompanying measures will contribute to the implementation of the Programme or the preparation of future activities. Measures devoted to the commercialisation of products, process or services, marketing activities and sales promotion are excluded. (i) Studies in support of the Programme, including the preparation of future activities. (ii) Exchange of information, conferences, seminars, workshops or other meetings and the management of clustered activities. (iii) Dissemination, information and communication activities. 3. The selection of shared-cost actions will be based on calls for proposals published on the Commission's Internet site in accordance with the financial provisions in force. 4. Applications for Community support should provide, where appropriate, a financial plan listing all the components of the funding of the projects, including the financial support requested from the Community, and any other requests for or grants of support from other sources. 5. Accompanying measures will be implemented through calls for tenders in accordance with the financial provisions in force. ANNEX III Indicative breakdown of expenditure 1. Facilitating at Community level access to digital content, its use and exploitation 40 to 50 % 2. Facilitating improvement of quality and enhancing best practice related to digital content between content providers and users, and across sectors 45 to 55 % 3. Reinforcing cooperation between digital content stakeholders and awareness 8 to 12 %

Summary: eContentplus (2005-2008) eContentplus (2005-2008) The eContentplus programme will contribute towards supporting the development of multilingual content with a view to supplying innovative on-line services in the European Union (EU). It will make it possible to reduce fragmentation of the European digital content market and to improve access and ease of use of geographical information, educational material and cultural content. ACT Decision No 456/2005/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2005 establishing a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable. SUMMARY The eContentplus programme is in line with the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council (March 2000) which stressed that the shift to a digital, knowledge-based economy will be a powerful engine for growth, competitiveness and jobs. It also contributes to the implementation of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan which advocates the launching of actions to stimulate the emergence of secure services, applications and content over broadband networks. eContentplus is the successor to the eContent Programme (2001-2004). It is part of a set of measures intended to create favourable conditions for innovation and creativity on the convergent content market, such as the MEDIAPlus Programme and the revised " Television without frontiers " Directive. Overall duration and objective The duration of the programme is 2005-2008. It aims to make digital content more accessible, usable and exploitable by facilitating the creation and dissemination of information at EU level. Lines of action In order to attain the overall aim of the Programme, the following lines of action will be addressed: facilitating at Community level access to, use and exploitation of digital content; facilitating improvement of quality and enhancing best practice related to digital content between content providers and users; reinforcing cooperation between digital content stakeholders and awareness. Target areas The programme will concentrate its efforts on those parts of the digital content market where market fragmentation is most marked and where market forces by themselves have not managed to spur growth. Three areas are being mainly targeted: Geographical information: the programme will encourage the aggregation of existing national databases in this area in order to create from them cross-border databases to which new information services and products can refer. eContentplus will thus further the setting up of information services at EU level based on data drawn from the transport, navigation, emergency services and environmental management sectors. Educational material: the programme will support the development of open European knowledge pools of digital objects, for education and research communities, as well as the individual. The activities undertaken under the programme will prompt the creation of trans-European brokering services for digital learning content. They will support the emergence of an appropriate information network and encourage the use of open standards to foster the deployment of effective pan-European learning services. Cultural content, scientific information and scholarly content: eContentplus will encourage the setting-up of European information networks for accessing and using European digital scientific and cultural resources through the linking of virtual libraries or community memories. It will support the development of interoperable collections and objects available in various cultural institutions (libraries, archives, museums, etc.) and of solutions to facilitate the exhibition, discovery or repatriation of such resources. Participation Any legal entity from an eligible country (European Union, accession candidate countries, Member States of the European Economic Area and of the European Free Trade Area) may participate in the eContentplus Programme. Implementation The programme will be implemented through indirect action comprising: shared-cost actions - projects designed to increase knowledge so as to improve existing products, processes or services: Community funding will cover a maximum of 50% of the costs; - best practice actions to spread knowledge: the Community contribution will be limited to direct costs deemed necessary for achieving the objectives of the action. - thematic networks (networks bringing together a variety of stakeholders around a given technological and organisational objective): the Commission financial support will cover the additional eligible costs of coordinating and implementing the network. accompanying measures: These will contribute to the implementation of the programme or the preparation of future activities. Measures devoted to the commercialisation of products, process or services, marketing activities and sales promotion are excluded from that category. The accompanying measures will include: - studies in support of the programme, including the preparation of future activities; - exchange of information, conferences, seminars, workshops, etc.; - dissemination, information and communication activities. Calls for proposals and invitations to tender The selection of shared-cost actions will be based on invitations to tender published on the Commission's internet site. Accompanying measures will be implemented through invitations to tender. Coordination with the other programmes In the implementation of the Programme, the Commission will ensure consistency and complementarity of the eContentplus Programme with other relevant Community policies, programmes and actions, in particular the IDA, eTEN, eInclusion, eLearning, Modinis and Safer Internet programmes. References Act Entry into force Deadline for transposition in the Member States Official Journal Decision 456/2005/EC [adoption : codecision COD/2004/0025] 24.03.2005 - OJ L 79 of 24.03.2005 RELATED ACTS Decision 2004/387/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on interoperable delivery of pan-European eGovernment services to public administrations, businesses and citizens (IDABC) [Official Journal L 144 of 30.4.2004]; Decision No 2318/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 adopting a multiannual programme (2004 to 2006) for the effective integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education and training systems in Europe (eLearning Programme) [Official Journal L 345 of 31.12.2003]; Decision 2256/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 adopting a multiannual programme (2003-2005) for the monitoring of the eEurope 2005 action plan, dissemination of good practices and the improvement of network and information security (MODINIS) [Official Journal L 336 of 23.12.2003]; Decision 276/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 January 1999 adopting a multiannual Community action plan on promoting safer use of the internet by combating illegal and harmful content on global networks [Official Journal L 33 of 6.2.1999]; Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 of 18 September 1995 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks [Official Journal L 228 of 23.9.1995]. See also For more information, visit the Commission's " Information Society " website. Last updated: 31.08.2007


11.6.2005 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 149/22 DIRECTIVE 2005/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’) (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2), Whereas: (1) Article 153(1) and (3)(a) of the Treaty provides that the Community is to contribute to the attainment of a high level of consumer protection by the measures it adopts pursuant to Article 95 thereof. (2) In accordance with Article 14(2) of the Treaty, the internal market comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods and services and freedom of establishment are ensured. The development of fair commercial practices within the area without internal frontiers is vital for the promotion of the development of cross-border activities. (3) The laws of the Member States relating to unfair commercial practices show marked differences which can generate appreciable distortions of competition and obstacles to the smooth functioning of the internal market. In the field of advertising, Council Directive 84/450/EEC of 10 September 1984 concerning misleading and comparative advertising (3) establishes minimum criteria for harmonising legislation on misleading advertising, but does not prevent the Member States from retaining or adopting measures which provide more extensive protection for consumers. As a result, Member States' provisions on misleading advertising diverge significantly. (4) These disparities cause uncertainty as to which national rules apply to unfair commercial practices harming consumers' economic interests and create many barriers affecting business and consumers. These barriers increase the cost to business of exercising internal market freedoms, in particular when businesses wish to engage in cross border marketing, advertising campaigns and sales promotions. Such barriers also make consumers uncertain of their rights and undermine their confidence in the internal market. (5) In the absence of uniform rules at Community level, obstacles to the free movement of services and goods across borders or the freedom of establishment could be justified in the light of the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities as long as they seek to protect recognised public interest objectives and are proportionate to those objectives. In view of the Community's objectives, as set out in the provisions of the Treaty and in secondary Community law relating to freedom of movement, and in accordance with the Commission's policy on commercial communications as indicated in the Communication from the Commission entitled ‘The follow-up to the Green Paper on Commercial Communications in the Internal Market’, such obstacles should be eliminated. These obstacles can only be eliminated by establishing uniform rules at Community level which establish a high level of consumer protection and by clarifying certain legal concepts at Community level to the extent necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market and to meet the requirement of legal certainty. (6) This Directive therefore approximates the laws of the Member States on unfair commercial practices, including unfair advertising, which directly harm consumers' economic interests and thereby indirectly harm the economic interests of legitimate competitors. In line with the principle of proportionality, this Directive protects consumers from the consequences of such unfair commercial practices where they are material but recognises that in some cases the impact on consumers may be negligible. It neither covers nor affects the national laws on unfair commercial practices which harm only competitors' economic interests or which relate to a transaction between traders; taking full account of the principle of subsidiarity, Member States will continue to be able to regulate such practices, in conformity with Community law, if they choose to do so. Nor does this Directive cover or affect the provisions of Directive 84/450/EEC on advertising which misleads business but which is not misleading for consumers and on comparative advertising. Further, this Directive does not affect accepted advertising and marketing practices, such as legitimate product placement, brand differentiation or the offering of incentives which may legitimately affect consumers' perceptions of products and influence their behaviour without impairing the consumer's ability to make an informed decision. (7) This Directive addresses commercial practices directly related to influencing consumers' transactional decisions in relation to products. It does not address commercial practices carried out primarily for other purposes, including for example commercial communication aimed at investors, such as annual reports and corporate promotional literature. It does not address legal requirements related to taste and decency which vary widely among the Member States. Commercial practices such as, for example, commercial solicitation in the streets, may be undesirable in Member States for cultural reasons. Member States should accordingly be able to continue to ban commercial practices in their territory, in conformity with Community law, for reasons of taste and decency even where such practices do not limit consumers' freedom of choice. Full account should be taken of the context of the individual case concerned in applying this Directive, in particular the general clauses thereof. (8) This Directive directly protects consumer economic interests from unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices. Thereby, it also indirectly protects legitimate businesses from their competitors who do not play by the rules in this Directive and thus guarantees fair competition in fields coordinated by it. It is understood that there are other commercial practices which, although not harming consumers, may hurt competitors and business customers. The Commission should carefully examine the need for Community action in the field of unfair competition beyond the remit of this Directive and, if necessary, make a legislative proposal to cover these other aspects of unfair competition. (9) This Directive is without prejudice to individual actions brought by those who have been harmed by an unfair commercial practice. It is also without prejudice to Community and national rules on contract law, on intellectual property rights, on the health and safety aspects of products, on conditions of establishment and authorisation regimes, including those rules which, in conformity with Community law, relate to gambling activities, and to Community competition rules and the national provisions implementing them. The Member States will thus be able to retain or introduce restrictions and prohibitions of commercial practices on grounds of the protection of the health and safety of consumers in their territory wherever the trader is based, for example in relation to alcohol, tobacco or pharmaceuticals. Financial services and immovable property, by reason of their complexity and inherent serious risks, necessitate detailed requirements, including positive obligations on traders. For this reason, in the field of financial services and immovable property, this Directive is without prejudice to the right of Member States to go beyond its provisions to protect the economic interests of consumers. It is not appropriate to regulate here the certification and indication of the standard of fineness of articles of precious metal. (10) It is necessary to ensure that the relationship between this Directive and existing Community law is coherent, particularly where detailed provisions on unfair commercial practices apply to specific sectors. This Directive therefore amends Directive 84/450/EEC, Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts (4), Directive 98/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on injunctions for the protection of consumers' interests (5) and Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services (6). This Directive accordingly applies only in so far as there are no specific Community law provisions regulating specific aspects of unfair commercial practices, such as information requirements and rules on the way the information is presented to the consumer. It provides protection for consumers where there is no specific sectoral legislation at Community level and prohibits traders from creating a false impression of the nature of products. This is particularly important for complex products with high levels of risk to consumers, such as certain financial services products. This Directive consequently complements the Community acquis, which is applicable to commercial practices harming consumers' economic interests. (11) The high level of convergence achieved by the approximation of national provisions through this Directive creates a high common level of consumer protection. This Directive establishes a single general prohibition of those unfair commercial practices distorting consumers' economic behaviour. It also sets rules on aggressive commercial practices, which are currently not regulated at Community level. (12) Harmonisation will considerably increase legal certainty for both consumers and business. Both consumers and business will be able to rely on a single regulatory framework based on clearly defined legal concepts regulating all aspects of unfair commercial practices across the EU. The effect will be to eliminate the barriers stemming from the fragmentation of the rules on unfair commercial practices harming consumer economic interests and to enable the internal market to be achieved in this area. (13) In order to achieve the Community's objectives through the removal of internal market barriers, it is necessary to replace Member States' existing, divergent general clauses and legal principles. The single, common general prohibition established by this Directive therefore covers unfair commercial practices distorting consumers' economic behaviour. In order to support consumer confidence the general prohibition should apply equally to unfair commercial practices which occur outside any contractual relationship between a trader and a consumer or following the conclusion of a contract and during its execution. The general prohibition is elaborated by rules on the two types of commercial practices which are by far the most common, namely misleading commercial practices and aggressive commercial practices. (14) It is desirable that misleading commercial practices cover those practices, including misleading advertising, which by deceiving the consumer prevent him from making an informed and thus efficient choice. In conformity with the laws and practices of Member States on misleading advertising, this Directive classifies misleading practices into misleading actions and misleading omissions. In respect of omissions, this Directive sets out a limited number of key items of information which the consumer needs to make an informed transactional decision. Such information will not have to be disclosed in all advertisements, but only where the trader makes an invitation to purchase, which is a concept clearly defined in this Directive. The full harmonisation approach adopted in this Directive does not preclude the Member States from specifying in national law the main characteristics of particular products such as, for example, collectors' items or electrical goods, the omission of which would be material when an invitation to purchase is made. It is not the intention of this Directive to reduce consumer choice by prohibiting the promotion of products which look similar to other products unless this similarity confuses consumers as to the commercial origin of the product and is therefore misleading. This Directive should be without prejudice to existing Community law which expressly affords Member States the choice between several regulatory options for the protection of consumers in the field of commercial practices. In particular, this Directive should be without prejudice to Article 13(3) of Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (7). (15) Where Community law sets out information requirements in relation to commercial communication, advertising and marketing that information is considered as material under this Directive. Member States will be able to retain or add information requirements relating to contract law and having contract law consequences where this is allowed by the minimum clauses in the existing Community law instruments. A non-exhaustive list of such information requirements in the acquis is contained in Annex II. Given the full harmonisation introduced by this Directive only the information required in Community law is considered as material for the purpose of Article 7(5) thereof. Where Member States have introduced information requirements over and above what is specified in Community law, on the basis of minimum clauses, the omission of that extra information will not constitute a misleading omission under this Directive. By contrast Member States will be able, when allowed by the minimum clauses in Community law, to maintain or introduce more stringent provisions in conformity with Community law so as to ensure a higher level of protection of consumers' individual contractual rights. (16) The provisions on aggressive commercial practices should cover those practices which significantly impair the consumer's freedom of choice. Those are practices using harassment, coercion, including the use of physical force, and undue influence. (17) It is desirable that those commercial practices which are in all circumstances unfair be identified to provide greater legal certainty. Annex I therefore contains the full list of all such practices. These are the only commercial practices which can be deemed to be unfair without a case-by-case assessment against the provisions of Articles 5 to 9. The list may only be modified by revision of the Directive. (18) It is appropriate to protect all consumers from unfair commercial practices; however the Court of Justice has found it necessary in adjudicating on advertising cases since the enactment of Directive 84/450/EEC to examine the effect on a notional, typical consumer. In line with the principle of proportionality, and to permit the effective application of the protections contained in it, this Directive takes as a benchmark the average consumer, who is reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, taking into account social, cultural and linguistic factors, as interpreted by the Court of Justice, but also contains provisions aimed at preventing the exploitation of consumers whose characteristics make them particularly vulnerable to unfair commercial practices. Where a commercial practice is specifically aimed at a particular group of consumers, such as children, it is desirable that the impact of the commercial practice be assessed from the perspective of the average member of that group. It is therefore appropriate to include in the list of practices which are in all circumstances unfair a provision which, without imposing an outright ban on advertising directed at children, protects them from direct exhortations to purchase. The average consumer test is not a statistical test. National courts and authorities will have to exercise their own faculty of judgement, having regard to the case-law of the Court of Justice, to determine the typical reaction of the average consumer in a given case. (19) Where certain characteristics such as age, physical or mental infirmity or credulity make consumers particularly susceptible to a commercial practice or to the underlying product and the economic behaviour only of such consumers is likely to be distorted by the practice in a way that the trader can reasonably foresee, it is appropriate to ensure that they are adequately protected by assessing the practice from the perspective of the average member of that group. (20) It is appropriate to provide a role for codes of conduct, which enable traders to apply the principles of this Directive effectively in specific economic fields. In sectors where there are specific mandatory requirements regulating the behaviour of traders, it is appropriate that these will also provide evidence as to the requirements of professional diligence in that sector. The control exercised by code owners at national or Community level to eliminate unfair commercial practices may avoid the need for recourse to administrative or judicial action and should therefore be encouraged. With the aim of pursuing a high level of consumer protection, consumers' organisations could be informed and involved in the drafting of codes of conduct. (21) Persons or organisations regarded under national law as having a legitimate interest in the matter must have legal remedies for initiating proceedings against unfair commercial practices, either before a court or before an administrative authority which is competent to decide upon complaints or to initiate appropriate legal proceedings. While it is for national law to determine the burden of proof, it is appropriate to enable courts and administrative authorities to require traders to produce evidence as to the accuracy of factual claims they have made. (22) It is necessary that Member States lay down penalties for infringements of the provisions of this Directive and they must ensure that these are enforced. The penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. (23) Since the objectives of this Directive, namely to eliminate the barriers to the functioning of the internal market represented by national laws on unfair commercial practices and to provide a high common level of consumer protection, by approximating the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States on unfair commercial practices, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to eliminate the internal market barriers and achieve a high common level of consumer protection. (24) It is appropriate to review this Directive to ensure that barriers to the internal market have been addressed and a high level of consumer protection achieved. The review could lead to a Commission proposal to amend this Directive, which may include a limited extension to the derogation in Article 3(5), and/or amendments to other consumer protection legislation reflecting the Commission's Consumer Policy Strategy commitment to review the existing acquis in order to achieve a high, common level of consumer protection. (25) This Directive respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: CHAPTER 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1 Purpose The purpose of this Directive is to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market and achieve a high level of consumer protection by approximating the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States on unfair commercial practices harming consumers' economic interests. Article 2 Definitions For the purposes of this Directive: (a) ‘consumer’ means any natural person who, in commercial practices covered by this Directive, is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession; (b) ‘trader’ means any natural or legal person who, in commercial practices covered by this Directive, is acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession and anyone acting in the name of or on behalf of a trader; (c) ‘product’ means any goods or service including immovable property, rights and obligations; (d) ‘business-to-consumer commercial practices’ (hereinafter also referred to as commercial practices) means any act, omission, course of conduct or representation, commercial communication including advertising and marketing, by a trader, directly connected with the promotion, sale or supply of a product to consumers; (e) ‘to materially distort the economic behaviour of consumers’ means using a commercial practice to appreciably impair the consumer's ability to make an informed decision, thereby causing the consumer to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise; (f) ‘code of conduct’ means an agreement or set of rules not imposed by law, regulation or administrative provision of a Member State which defines the behaviour of traders who undertake to be bound by the code in relation to one or more particular commercial practices or business sectors; (g) ‘code owner’ means any entity, including a trader or group of traders, which is responsible for the formulation and revision of a code of conduct and/or for monitoring compliance with the code by those who have undertaken to be bound by it; (h) ‘professional diligence’ means the standard of special skill and care which a trader may reasonably be expected to exercise towards consumers, commensurate with honest market practice and/or the general principle of good faith in the trader's field of activity; (i) ‘invitation to purchase’ means a commercial communication which indicates characteristics of the product and the price in a way appropriate to the means of the commercial communication used and thereby enables the consumer to make a purchase; (j) ‘undue influence’ means exploiting a position of power in relation to the consumer so as to apply pressure, even without using or threatening to use physical force, in a way which significantly limits the consumer's ability to make an informed decision; (k) ‘transactional decision’ means any decision taken by a consumer concerning whether, how and on what terms to purchase, make payment in whole or in part for, retain or dispose of a product or to exercise a contractual right in relation to the product, whether the consumer decides to act or to refrain from acting; (l) ‘regulated profession’ means a professional activity or a group of professional activities, access to which or the pursuit of which, or one of the modes of pursuing which, is conditional, directly or indirectly, upon possession of specific professional qualifications, pursuant to laws, regulations or administrative provisions. Article 3 Scope 1. This Directive shall apply to unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices, as laid down in Article 5, before, during and after a commercial transaction in relation to a product. 2. This Directive is without prejudice to contract law and, in particular, to the rules on the validity, formation or effect of a contract. 3. This Directive is without prejudice to Community or national rules relating to the health and safety aspects of products. 4. In the case of conflict between the provisions of this Directive and other Community rules regulating specific aspects of unfair commercial practices, the latter shall prevail and apply to those specific aspects. 5. For a period of six years from 12 June 2007, Member States shall be able to continue to apply national provisions within the field approximated by this Directive which are more restrictive or prescriptive than this Directive and which implement directives containing minimum harmonisation clauses. These measures must be essential to ensure that consumers are adequately protected against unfair commercial practices and must be proportionate to the attainment of this objective. The review referred to in Article 18 may, if considered appropriate, include a proposal to prolong this derogation for a further limited period. 6. Member States shall notify the Commission without delay of any national provisions applied on the basis of paragraph 5. 7. This Directive is without prejudice to the rules determining the jurisdiction of the courts. 8. This Directive is without prejudice to any conditions of establishment or of authorisation regimes, or to the deontological codes of conduct or other specific rules governing regulated professions in order to uphold high standards of integrity on the part of the professional, which Member States may, in conformity with Community law, impose on professionals. 9. In relation to ‘financial services’, as defined in Directive 2002/65/EC, and immovable property, Member States may impose requirements which are more restrictive or prescriptive than this Directive in the field which it approximates. 10. This Directive shall not apply to the application of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of Member States relating to the certification and indication of the standard of fineness of articles of precious metal. Article 4 Internal market Member States shall neither restrict the freedom to provide services nor restrict the free movement of goods for reasons falling within the field approximated by this Directive. CHAPTER 2 UNFAIR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES Article 5 Prohibition of unfair commercial practices 1. Unfair commercial practices shall be prohibited. 2. A commercial practice shall be unfair if: (a) it is contrary to the requirements of professional diligence, and (b) it materially distorts or is likely to materially distort the economic behaviour with regard to the product of the average consumer whom it reaches or to whom it is addressed, or of the average member of the group when a commercial practice is directed to a particular group of consumers. 3. Commercial practices which are likely to materially distort the economic behaviour only of a clearly identifiable group of consumers who are particularly vulnerable to the practice or the underlying product because of their mental or physical infirmity, age or credulity in a way which the trader could reasonably be expected to foresee, shall be assessed from the perspective of the average member of that group. This is without prejudice to the common and legitimate advertising practice of making exaggerated statements or statements which are not meant to be taken literally. 4. In particular, commercial practices shall be unfair which: (a) are misleading as set out in Articles 6 and 7, or (b) are aggressive as set out in Articles 8 and 9. 5. Annex I contains the list of those commercial practices which shall in all circumstances be regarded as unfair. The same single list shall apply in all Member States and may only be modified by revision of this Directive. Section 1 Misleading commercial practices Article 6 Misleading actions 1. A commercial practice shall be regarded as misleading if it contains false information and is therefore untruthful or in any way, including overall presentation, deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer, even if the information is factually correct, in relation to one or more of the following elements, and in either case causes or is likely to cause him to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise: (a) the existence or nature of the product; (b) the main characteristics of the product, such as its availability, benefits, risks, execution, composition, accessories, after-sale customer assistance and complaint handling, method and date of manufacture or provision, delivery, fitness for purpose, usage, quantity, specification, geographical or commercial origin or the results to be expected from its use, or the results and material features of tests or checks carried out on the product; (c) the extent of the trader's commitments, the motives for the commercial practice and the nature of the sales process, any statement or symbol in relation to direct or indirect sponsorship or approval of the trader or the product; (d) the price or the manner in which the price is calculated, or the existence of a specific price advantage; (e) the need for a service, part, replacement or repair; (f) the nature, attributes and rights of the trader or his agent, such as his identity and assets, his qualifications, status, approval, affiliation or connection and ownership of industrial, commercial or intellectual property rights or his awards and distinctions; (g) the consumer's rights, including the right to replacement or reimbursement under Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees (8), or the risks he may face. 2. A commercial practice shall also be regarded as misleading if, in its factual context, taking account of all its features and circumstances, it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise, and it involves: (a) any marketing of a product, including comparative advertising, which creates confusion with any products, trade marks, trade names or other distinguishing marks of a competitor; (b) non-compliance by the trader with commitments contained in codes of conduct by which the trader has undertaken to be bound, where: (i) the commitment is not aspirational but is firm and is capable of being verified, and (ii) the trader indicates in a commercial practice that he is bound by the code. Article 7 Misleading omissions 1. A commercial practice shall be regarded as misleading if, in its factual context, taking account of all its features and circumstances and the limitations of the communication medium, it omits material information that the average consumer needs, according to the context, to take an informed transactional decision and thereby causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise. 2. It shall also be regarded as a misleading omission when, taking account of the matters described in paragraph 1, a trader hides or provides in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner such material information as referred to in that paragraph or fails to identify the commercial intent of the commercial practice if not already apparent from the context, and where, in either case, this causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise. 3. Where the medium used to communicate the commercial practice imposes limitations of space or time, these limitations and any measures taken by the trader to make the information available to consumers by other means shall be taken into account in deciding whether information has been omitted. 4. In the case of an invitation to purchase, the following information shall be regarded as material, if not already apparent from the context: (a) the main characteristics of the product, to an extent appropriate to the medium and the product; (b) the geographical address and the identity of the trader, such as his trading name and, where applicable, the geographical address and the identity of the trader on whose behalf he is acting; (c) the price inclusive of taxes, or where the nature of the product means that the price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the manner in which the price is calculated, as well as, where appropriate, all additional freight, delivery or postal charges or, where these charges cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the fact that such additional charges may be payable; (d) the arrangements for payment, delivery, performance and the complaint handling policy, if they depart from the requirements of professional diligence; (e) for products and transactions involving a right of withdrawal or cancellation, the existence of such a right. 5. Information requirements established by Community law in relation to commercial communication including advertising or marketing, a non-exhaustive list of which is contained in Annex II, shall be regarded as material. Section 2 Aggressive commercial practices Article 8 Aggressive commercial practices A commercial practice shall be regarded as aggressive if, in its factual context, taking account of all its features and circumstances, by harassment, coercion, including the use of physical force, or undue influence, it significantly impairs or is likely to significantly impair the average consumer's freedom of choice or conduct with regard to the product and thereby causes him or is likely to cause him to take a transactional decision that he would not have taken otherwise. Article 9 Use of harassment, coercion and undue influence In determining whether a commercial practice uses harassment, coercion, including the use of physical force, or undue influence, account shall be taken of: (a) its timing, location, nature or persistence; (b) the use of threatening or abusive language or behaviour; (c) the exploitation by the trader of any specific misfortune or circumstance of such gravity as to impair the consumer's judgement, of which the trader is aware, to influence the consumer's decision with regard to the product; (d) any onerous or disproportionate non-contractual barriers imposed by the trader where a consumer wishes to exercise rights under the contract, including rights to terminate a contract or to switch to another product or another trader; (e) any threat to take any action that cannot legally be taken. CHAPTER 3 CODES OF CONDUCT Article 10 Codes of conduct This Directive does not exclude the control, which Member States may encourage, of unfair commercial practices by code owners and recourse to such bodies by the persons or organisations referred to in Article 11 if proceedings before such bodies are in addition to the court or administrative proceedings referred to in that Article. Recourse to such control bodies shall never be deemed the equivalent of foregoing a means of judicial or administrative recourse as provided for in Article 11. CHAPTER 4 FINAL PROVISIONS Article 11 Enforcement 1. Member States shall ensure that adequate and effective means exist to combat unfair commercial practices in order to enforce compliance with the provisions of this Directive in the interest of consumers. Such means shall include legal provisions under which persons or organisations regarded under national law as having a legitimate interest in combating unfair commercial practices, including competitors, may: (a) take legal action against such unfair commercial practices; and/or (b) bring such unfair commercial practices before an administrative authority competent either to decide on complaints or to initiate appropriate legal proceedings. It shall be for each Member State to decide which of these facilities shall be available and whether to enable the courts or administrative authorities to require prior recourse to other established means of dealing with complaints, including those referred to in Article 10. These facilities shall be available regardless of whether the consumers affected are in the territory of the Member State where the trader is located or in another Member State. It shall be for each Member State to decide: (a) whether these legal facilities may be directed separately or jointly against a number of traders from the same economic sector; and (b) whether these legal facilities may be directed against a code owner where the relevant code promotes non-compliance with legal requirements. 2. Under the legal provisions referred to in paragraph 1, Member States shall confer upon the courts or administrative authorities powers enabling them, in cases where they deem such measures to be necessary taking into account all the interests involved and in particular the public interest: (a) to order the cessation of, or to institute appropriate legal proceedings for an order for the cessation of, unfair commercial practices; or (b) if the unfair commercial practice has not yet been carried out but is imminent, to order the prohibition of the practice, or to institute appropriate legal proceedings for an order for the prohibition of the practice, even without proof of actual loss or damage or of intention or negligence on the part of the trader. Member States shall also make provision for the measures referred to in the first subparagraph to be taken under an accelerated procedure: — either with interim effect, or — with definitive effect, on the understanding that it is for each Member State to decide which of the two options to select. Furthermore, Member States may confer upon the courts or administrative authorities powers enabling them, with a view to eliminating the continuing effects of unfair commercial practices the cessation of which has been ordered by a final decision: (a) to require publication of that decision in full or in part and in such form as they deem adequate; (b) to require in addition the publication of a corrective statement. 3. The administrative authorities referred to in paragraph 1 must: (a) be composed so as not to cast doubt on their impartiality; (b) have adequate powers, where they decide on complaints, to monitor and enforce the observance of their decisions effectively; (c) normally give reasons for their decisions. Where the powers referred to in paragraph 2 are exercised exclusively by an administrative authority, reasons for its decisions shall always be given. Furthermore, in this case, provision must be made for procedures whereby improper or unreasonable exercise of its powers by the administrative authority or improper or unreasonable failure to exercise the said powers can be the subject of judicial review. Article 12 Courts and administrative authorities: substantiation of claims Member States shall confer upon the courts or administrative authorities powers enabling them in the civil or administrative proceedings provided for in Article 11: (a) to require the trader to furnish evidence as to the accuracy of factual claims in relation to a commercial practice if, taking into account the legitimate interest of the trader and any other party to the proceedings, such a requirement appears appropriate on the basis of the circumstances of the particular case; and (b) to consider factual claims as inaccurate if the evidence demanded in accordance with (a) is not furnished or is deemed insufficient by the court or administrative authority. Article 13 Penalties Member States shall lay down penalties for infringements of national provisions adopted in application of this Directive and shall take all necessary measures to ensure that these are enforced. These penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Article 14 Amendments to Directive 84/450/EEC Directive 84/450/EEC is hereby amended as follows: 1. Article 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 1 The purpose of this Directive is to protect traders against misleading advertising and the unfair consequences thereof and to lay down the conditions under which comparative advertising is permitted.’; 2. in Article 2: — point 3 shall be replaced by the following: ‘3. “trader” means any natural or legal person who is acting for purposes relating to his trade, craft, business or profession and any one acting in the name of or on behalf of a trader.’ , — the following point shall be added: ‘4. “code owner” means any entity, including a trader or group of traders, which is responsible for the formulation and revision of a code of conduct and/or for monitoring compliance with the code by those who have undertaken to be bound by it.’ ; 3. Article 3a shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 3a 1. Comparative advertising shall, as far as the comparison is concerned, be permitted when the following conditions are met: (a) it is not misleading within the meaning of Articles 2(2), 3 and 7(1) of this Directive or Articles 6 and 7 of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (9); (b) it compares goods or services meeting the same needs or intended for the same purpose; (c) it objectively compares one or more material, relevant, verifiable and representative features of those goods and services, which may include price; (d) it does not discredit or denigrate the trade marks, trade names, other distinguishing marks, goods, services, activities, or circumstances of a competitor; (e) for products with designation of origin, it relates in each case to products with the same designation; (f) it does not take unfair advantage of the reputation of a trade mark, trade name or other distinguishing marks of a competitor or of the designation of origin of competing products; (g) it does not present goods or services as imitations or replicas of goods or services bearing a protected trade mark or trade name; (h) it does not create confusion among traders, between the advertiser and a competitor or between the advertiser's trade marks, trade names, other distinguishing marks, goods or services and those of a competitor. 4. Article 4(1) shall be replaced by the following: ‘1. Member States shall ensure that adequate and effective means exist to combat misleading advertising in order to enforce compliance with the provisions on comparative advertising in the interest of traders and competitors. Such means shall include legal provisions under which persons or organisations regarded under national law as having a legitimate interest in combating misleading advertising or regulating comparative advertising may: (a) take legal action against such advertising; or (b) bring such advertising before an administrative authority competent either to decide on complaints or to initiate appropriate legal proceedings. It shall be for each Member State to decide which of these facilities shall be available and whether to enable the courts or administrative authorities to require prior recourse to other established means of dealing with complaints, including those referred to in Article 5. It shall be for each Member State to decide: (a) whether these legal facilities may be directed separately or jointly against a number of traders from the same economic sector; and (b) whether these legal facilities may be directed against a code owner where the relevant code promotes non-compliance with legal requirements.’ ; 5. Article 7(1) shall be replaced by the following: ‘1. This Directive shall not preclude Member States from retaining or adopting provisions with a view to ensuring more extensive protection, with regard to misleading advertising, for traders and competitors.’ Article 15 Amendments to Directives 97/7/EC and 2002/65/EC 1. Article 9 of Directive 97/7/EC shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 9 Inertia selling Given the prohibition of inertia selling practices laid down in Directive 2005/29/EC of 11 May 2005of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (10), Member States shall take the measures necessary to exempt the consumer from the provision of any consideration in cases of unsolicited supply, the absence of a response not constituting consent. 2. Article 9 of Directive 2002/65/EC shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 9 Given the prohibition of inertia selling practices laid down in Directive 2005/29/EC of 11 May 2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (11) and without prejudice to the provisions of Member States' legislation on the tacit renewal of distance contracts, when such rules permit tacit renewal, Member States shall take measures to exempt the consumer from any obligation in the event of unsolicited supplies, the absence of a reply not constituting consent. Article 16 Amendments to Directive 98/27/EC and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 1. In the Annex to Directive 98/27/EC, point 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1. Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22).’ 2. In the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of the consumer protection law (the Regulation on consumer protection cooperation) (12) the following point shall be added: ‘16. Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22).’ Article 17 Information Member States shall take appropriate measures to inform consumers of the national law transposing this Directive and shall, where appropriate, encourage traders and code owners to inform consumers of their codes of conduct. Article 18 Review 1. By 12 June 2011 the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a comprehensive report on the application of this Directive, in particular of Articles 3(9) and 4 and Annex I, on the scope for further harmonisation and simplification of Community law relating to consumer protection, and, having regard to Article 3(5), on any measures that need to be taken at Community level to ensure that appropriate levels of consumer protection are maintained. The report shall be accompanied, if necessary, by a proposal to revise this Directive or other relevant parts of Community law. 2. The European Parliament and the Council shall endeavour to act, in accordance with the Treaty, within two years of the presentation by the Commission of any proposal submitted under paragraph 1. Article 19 Transposition Member States shall adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 12 June 2007. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof and inform the Commission of any subsequent amendments without delay. They shall apply those measures by 12 December 2007. When Member States adopt those measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made. Article 20 Entry into force This Directive shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Article 21 Addressees This Directive is addressed to the Member States. Done at Strasbourg, 11 May 2005. For the European Parliament The President J. P. BORRELL FONTELLES For the Council The President N. SCHMIT (1) OJ C 108, 30.4.2004, p. 81. (2) Opinion of the European Parliament of 20 April 2004 (OJ C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 260), Council Common Position of 15 November 2004 (OJ C 38 E, 15.2.2005, p. 1), Position of the European Parliament of 24 February 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 12 April 2005. (3) OJ L 250, 19.9.1984, p. 17. Directive as amended by Directive 97/55/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 290, 23.10.1997, p. 18). (4) OJ L 144, 4.6.1997, p. 19. Directive as amended by Directive 2002/65/EC (OJ L 271, 9.10.2002, p. 16). (5) OJ L 166, 11.6.1998, p. 51. Directive as last amended by Directive 2002/65/EC. (6) OJ L 271, 9.10.2002, p. 16. (7) OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37. (8) OJ L 171, 7.7.1999, p. 12. (9) OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22.’; (10) OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22.’; (11) OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, p. 22.’ (12) OJ L 364, 9.12.2004, p. 1. ANNEX I COMMERCIAL PRACTICES WHICH ARE IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES CONSIDERED UNFAIR Misleading commercial practices 1. Claiming to be a signatory to a code of conduct when the trader is not. 2. Displaying a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without having obtained the necessary authorisation. 3. Claiming that a code of conduct has an endorsement from a public or other body which it does not have. 4. Claiming that a trader (including his commercial practices) or a product has been approved, endorsed or authorised by a public or private body when he/it has not or making such a claim without complying with the terms of the approval, endorsement or authorisation. 5. Making an invitation to purchase products at a specified price without disclosing the existence of any reasonable grounds the trader may have for believing that he will not be able to offer for supply or to procure another trader to supply, those products or equivalent products at that price for a period that is, and in quantities that are, reasonable having regard to the product, the scale of advertising of the product and the price offered (bait advertising). 6. Making an invitation to purchase products at a specified price and then: (a) refusing to show the advertised item to consumers; or (b) refusing to take orders for it or deliver it within a reasonable time; or (c) demonstrating a defective sample of it, with the intention of promoting a different product (bait and switch) 7. Falsely stating that a product will only be available for a very limited time, or that it will only be available on particular terms for a very limited time, in order to elicit an immediate decision and deprive consumers of sufficient opportunity or time to make an informed choice. 8. Undertaking to provide after-sales service to consumers with whom the trader has communicated prior to a transaction in a language which is not an official language of the Member State where the trader is located and then making such service available only in another language without clearly disclosing this to the consumer before the consumer is committed to the transaction. 9. Stating or otherwise creating the impression that a product can legally be sold when it cannot. 10. Presenting rights given to consumers in law as a distinctive feature of the trader's offer. 11. Using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear in the content or by images or sounds clearly identifiable by the consumer (advertorial). This is without prejudice to Council Directive 89/552/EEC (1). 12. Making a materially inaccurate claim concerning the nature and extent of the risk to the personal security of the consumer or his family if the consumer does not purchase the product. 13. Promoting a product similar to a product made by a particular manufacturer in such a manner as deliberately to mislead the consumer into believing that the product is made by that same manufacturer when it is not. 14. Establishing, operating or promoting a pyramid promotional scheme where a consumer gives consideration for the opportunity to receive compensation that is derived primarily from the introduction of other consumers into the scheme rather than from the sale or consumption of products. 15. Claiming that the trader is about to cease trading or move premises when he is not. 16. Claiming that products are able to facilitate winning in games of chance. 17. Falsely claiming that a product is able to cure illnesses, dysfunction or malformations. 18. Passing on materially inaccurate information on market conditions or on the possibility of finding the product with the intention of inducing the consumer to acquire the product at conditions less favourable than normal market conditions. 19. Claiming in a commercial practice to offer a competition or prize promotion without awarding the prizes described or a reasonable equivalent. 20. Describing a product as ‘gratis’, ‘free’, ‘without charge’ or similar if the consumer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding to the commercial practice and collecting or paying for delivery of the item. 21. Including in marketing material an invoice or similar document seeking payment which gives the consumer the impression that he has already ordered the marketed product when he has not. 22. Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer. 23. Creating the false impression that after-sales service in relation to a product is available in a Member State other than the one in which the product is sold. Aggressive commercial practices 24. Creating the impression that the consumer cannot leave the premises until a contract is formed. 25. Conducting personal visits to the consumer's home ignoring the consumer's request to leave or not to return except in circumstances and to the extent justified, under national law, to enforce a contractual obligation. 26. Making persistent and unwanted solicitations by telephone, fax, e-mail or other remote media except in circumstances and to the extent justified under national law to enforce a contractual obligation. This is without prejudice to Article 10 of Directive 97/7/EC and Directives 95/46/EC (2) and 2002/58/EC. 27. Requiring a consumer who wishes to claim on an insurance policy to produce documents which could not reasonably be considered relevant as to whether the claim was valid, or failing systematically to respond to pertinent correspondence, in order to dissuade a consumer from exercising his contractual rights. 28. Including in an advertisement a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them. This provision is without prejudice to Article 16 of Directive 89/552/EEC on television broadcasting. 29. Demanding immediate or deferred payment for or the return or safekeeping of products supplied by the trader, but not solicited by the consumer except where the product is a substitute supplied in conformity with Article 7(3) of Directive 97/7/EC (inertia selling). 30. Explicitly informing a consumer that if he does not buy the product or service, the trader's job or livelihood will be in jeopardy. 31. Creating the false impression that the consumer has already won, will win, or will on doing a particular act win, a prize or other equivalent benefit, when in fact either: — there is no prize or other equivalent benefit, or — taking any action in relation to claiming the prize or other equivalent benefit is subject to the consumer paying money or incurring a cost. (1) Council Directive 89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities (OJ L 298, 17.10.1989, p. 23). Directive as amended by Directive 97/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 202, 30.7.1997, p. 60). (2) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31). Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1). ANNEX II COMMUNITY LAW PROVISIONS SETTING OUT RULES FOR ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATION Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 97/7/EC Article 3 of Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours (1) Article 3(3) of Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 1994 on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of a right to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis (2) Article 3(4) of Directive 98/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of products offered to consumers (3) Articles 86 to 100 of Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use (4) Articles 5 and 6 of Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce) (5) Article 1(d) of Directive 98/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 amending Council Directive 87/102/EEC for the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning consumer credit (6) Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2002/65/EC Article 1(9) of Directive 2001/107/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 January 2002 amending Council Directive 85/611/EEC on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) with a view to regulating management companies and simplified prospectuses (7) Articles 12 and 13 of Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 December 2002 on insurance mediation (8) Article 36 of Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 concerning life assurance (9) Article 19 of Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments (10) Articles 31 and 43 of Council Directive 92/49/EEC of 18 June 1992 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life assurance (11) (third non-life insurance Directive) Articles 5, 7 and 8 of Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading (12) (1) OJ L 158, 23.6.1990, p. 59. (2) OJ L 280, 29.10.1994, p. 83. (3) OJ L 80, 18.3.1998, p. 27. (4) OJ L 311, 28.11.2001, p. 67. Directive as last amended by Directive 2004/27/EC (OJ L 136, 30.4.2004, p. 34). (5) OJ L 178, 17.7.2000, p. 1. (6) OJ L 101, 1.4.1998, p. 17. (7) OJ L 41, 13.2.2002, p. 20. (8) OJ L 9, 15.1.2003, p. 3. (9) OJ L 345, 19.12.2002, p. 1. Directive as amended by Council Directive 2004/66/EC. (OJ L 168, 1.5.2004, p. 35). (10) OJ L 145, 30.4.2004, p. 1. (11) OJ L 228, 11.8.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 2002/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 35, 11.2.2003, p. 1). (12) OJ L 345, 31.12.2003, p. 64.

Summary: Unfair commercial practices Unfair commercial practices SUMMARY OF: Directive 2005/29/EC concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices Directive (EU) 2019/2161 amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directives 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU as regards the better enforcement and modernisation of EU consumer protection rules WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DIRECTIVES? Directive 2005/29/EC: defines the unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices which are prohibited in the EU.applies to any act or omission directly related to the promotion, sale or supply of a product* by a trader to consumers*. It thus protects the economic interests of consumers before, during and after a commercial transaction has taken place.ensures the same level of protection to all consumers irrespective of the place of purchase or sale in the EU. Directive (EU) 2019/2161 on better enforcement and modernisation of EU consumer protection rules amends Directive 2005/29/EC, addressing new developments of the market, in particular in the digital area. KEY POINTS Unfair commercial practices are those which: are contrary to the requirements of professional diligence* and;are likely to materially distort the economic behaviour of the average consumer. Certain consumers enjoy a higher level of protection due to their particular vulnerability to the practice or the product, their age (children or the elderly), their naivety or their mental or physical infirmity. Directive 2005/29/EC distinguishes 2 categories of commercial practice that are unfair if they cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision that the consumer would not have taken otherwise: misleading commercial practices (by action or omission) and aggressive commercial practices. Furthermore, Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC contains a list of practices that are prohibited in all circumstances (‘blacklist’). Misleading commercial practices Misleading actions A practice is misleading if it contains false or untrue information or is likely to deceive the average consumer, even though the information may be correct, and cause them to take a transactional decision they would not otherwise have taken. Examples of such actions include false or deceptive information regarding: the existence or nature of the product; the main characteristics of the product (its availability, benefits, risks, composition, geographical origin, results to be expected from its use, etc.); the extent of the trader’s commitments (in codes of conduct by which the trader has agreed to be bound); the price or the existence of a specific price advantage; the need for service or repair. Amending Directive (EU) 2019/2161 introduces a specific rule addressing misleading marketing of goods as being identical when in reality their composition of characteristics are different (often referred to as ‘dual quality’ goods). Misleading omissions A practice is also misleading if material information needed by the average consumer to take an informed transactional decision is omitted or provided in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner and is likely to cause them to take a purchase decision that they would not have otherwise taken. Directive 2005/29/EC provides a general list of information that should be regarded as material, such as price and the main characteristics of the product. Amending Directive (EU) 2019/2161 includes additional requirements for online sales, such as: obligations for online marketplaces* to inform consumers about the main criteria determining the ranking* of the offers provided in response to a search query, and the obligation to inform whether and how the authenticity of consumer reviews is checked. Aggressive commercial practices Transactional decisions must be made freely by the consumer. A practice is aggressive and unfair if by harassment, coercion or undue influence* it significantly impairs the average consumer’s freedom of choice and causes them to take a transactional decision they would not otherwise have taken. Several elements must be taken into consideration in order to determine whether a commercial practice is aggressive or not. These include: the nature, location and duration of the practice;the possible use of threatening or abusive language or behaviour;the exploitation by the trader of any specific circumstance of such seriousness (e.g. a death or a serious illness) as to impair the consumer’s judgment in order to influence their decision with regard to the product;any disproportionate non-contractual condition imposed on the consumer wishing to exercise their contractual rights (such as terminating or switching a contract). Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC contains a list of 35 commercial practices which are considered unfair in all circumstances. Practices prohibited in all circumstances (‘blacklist’) Directive 2005/29/EC contains a list of commercial practices that are prohibited in all circumstances. Amending Directive (EU) 2019/2161 has added to the list several additional practices prohibiting the publication of fake consumer reviews, hidden advertising in search results and resale of tickets that the trader has acquired using automated ‘bots’. Redress and penalties Amending Directive (EU) 2019/2161 seeks to ensure that consumers have the right to individual remedies (for example, compensation, a price reduction, etc.) when they are harmed by unfair commercial practices. EU countries must introduce effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties to punish traders who break national rules on unfair commercial practices. Amending Directive (EU) 2019/2161 provides for criteria to be applied when imposing fines and requires EU countries to provide for fines of up to at least 4% of the trader’s turnover or €2 million when information about the turnover is not available when national authorities of several countries are working together on major cross-border infringements affecting consumers in several EU countries. Guidance document In 2016, the Commission issued updated guidance on the implementation and application of Directive 2005/29/EC. It explains key concepts and rules and gives practical examples taken from the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and from national courts and administrations to make enforcement easier for national authorities and to ensure greater legal certainty for traders. FROM WHEN DO THE DIRECTIVES APPLY? Directive 2005/29/EC had to become law in the EU countries by 12 June 2007. EU countries had to apply the rules of the directive as of 12 December 2007. Amending Directive (EU) 2019/2161 has to become law in the EU countries by 28 November 2021. EU countries must apply the rules of the directive as of 28 May 2022. BACKGROUND For more information, see: Unfair commercial practices directive (European Commission) Factsheet — New Deal: What benefits will I get as a consumer? (European Commission). KEY TERMS Product: any good or service including immovable property, digital service and digital content, as well as rights and obligations. Consumer: an individual who, in commercial practices covered by Directive 2005/29/EC, is acting for purposes which are outside their trade, business, craft or profession. Professional diligence: the standard of special skill and care which a trader may reasonably be expected to exercise towards consumers corresponding to honest market practice and/or the general principle of good faith in the trader’s field of activity. Online marketplace: a service using software, including a website, part of a website or an application, operated by or on behalf of a trader which allows consumers to conclude distance contracts with other traders or consumers. Ranking: the relative prominence given to products, as presented, organised or communicated by the trader, irrespective of the technological means used for such presentation, organisation or communication. Undue influence: exploiting a position of power in relation to the consumer so as to apply pressure, even without using or threatening to use physical force, in a way which significantly limits the consumer’s ability to make an informed decision. MAIN DOCUMENTS Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘unfair commercial practices directive’) (OJ L 149, 11.6.2005, pp. 22-39) Successive amendments to Directive 2005/29/EC have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only. Directive (EU) 2019/2161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directives 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules (OJ L 328, 18.12.2019, pp. 7-28) RELATED DOCUMENTS Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee — A New Deal for Consumers (COM(2018) 183 final, 11.4.2018) Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 (OJ L 345, 27.12.2017, pp. 1-26) See consolidated version. Commission staff working document — Guidance on the implementation/application of Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices — Accompanying the document — Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — A comprehensive approach to stimulating cross-border e-Commerce for Europe’s citizens and businesses (SWD(2016) 163 final, 25.5.2016) last update 20.05.2020