Brochure: The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. New laws to stop unfair behaviour towards consumers

Directive 2005/29/EC on Unfair Commercial Practices was signed by the European Parliament and the Council on 11 May 2005. The Directive aims at enhancing consumers' rights and boosting cross-border trading by harmonising divergent national rules on business-to-consumer commercial practices. The new legislation outlines "sharp practices" which will be prohibited throughout the EU, such as pressure selling, misleading marketing and unfair advertising. Certain rules on advertising to children are also set out. Through this legislation, EU consumers will be given the same protection against aggressive or misleading marketing whether they buy locally or from other Member States' markets. Businesses will benefit from having a clear set of common EU rules to follow, rather than a myriad of divergent national laws and court case rulings, as is currently the case.

The Directive was published in the Official Journal on 11 June 2005 and its provisions must be applicable in the Member States by 12 December 2007. The Commission is working with the Member States and stakeholders to make sure that the Directive is transposed into national law in a timely and accurate manner.

This brochure introduces the Directive and gives concrete examples.

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