Unfair Commercial Practices Directive does not preclude the application of a national provision against publishers
17-03-2013 Print this page
Unfair Commercial Practices Directive does not preclude the application of a national provision under which those publishers are required to use the term ‘advertisement’ for advertisements, unless it is evident from arrangement and layout of the publication that it is an advertisement
"51. [...] In circumstances such as those of the main proceedings, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive may not be relied on as against newspaper publishers, with the result that, in those circumstances, that directive must be interpreted as not precluding the application of a national provision under which those publishers are required to identify specifically, in this case through the use of the term ‘advertisement’ (‘Anzeige’), any publication in their periodicals for which they receive remuneration, unless it is already evident from the arrangement and layout of the publication that it is an advertisement.
41. However, since the fact that the newspaper publisher proceeds with such publications which are liable to promote – possibly indirectly – the products and services of a third party is not liable to alter significantly the economic behaviour of the consumer in his decision to purchase or take possession of the (free) newspaper in question, such a publishing practice is not in itself liable to be classified as a ‘commercial practice’ within the meaning of Article 2(d) of Directive 2005/29.
42. In such circumstances, that directive is not intended to protect a competitor of the newspaper publisher in question on the ground that the latter proceeded with publications which are liable to promote the products or services of advertisers sponsoring those publications, without the identification as ‘advertising’, contrary to the requirement laid down in Paragraph 10 of the Land Press Law."
IPPT20131017, CJEU, RLvS v Stuttgarter Wochenblatt
C‑391/12 - ECLI:EU:C:2013:669
