22.8.2016   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 305/15

1.

Must Directive 2005/29/EC (1) on unfair commercial practices be interpreted as precluding a provision of national law, such as Article 14 of Law 7/1996 of 15 January 1996 regulating retail commerce (Ley 7/1996, de 15 de enero, de Ordenación del Comercio Minorista), which is stricter than the directive in question in that it contains an initial prohibition, which also covers wholesalers, on selling at a loss, treating such a practice as an infringement of administrative law and therefore imposing a penalty in respect of it, account being taken of the fact that, in addition to regulating the market, the Spanish legislation is intended to protect the interests of consumers?

2.

Must Directive 2005/29/EC be interpreted as precluding Article 14 of Law 7/1996 even though that provision of national law permits selling at a loss to be excluded from the general prohibition where (i) the infringing party shows that the objective of selling at a loss was to match the prices of one or more competitors with the ability materially to affect that party’s sales or (ii) the sale involves perishable goods which will shortly be unfit for use?