01998L0006 — EN — 28.05.2022 — 001.001
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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 (OJ L 080 18.3.1998, p. 27) |
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DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/2161 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 November 2019 |
L 328 |
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18.12.2019 |
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
Article 1
The purpose of this Directive is to stipulate indication of the selling price and the price per unit of measurement of products offered by traders to consumers in order to improve consumer information and to facilitate comparison of prices.
Article 2
For the purposes of this Directive:
selling price shall mean the final price for a unit of the product, or a given quantity of the product, including VAT and all other taxes;
unit price shall mean the final price, including VAT and all other taxes, for one kilogramme, one litre, one metre, one square metre or one cubic metre of the product or a different single unit of quantity which is widely and customarily used in the Member State concerned in the marketing of specific products;
products sold in bulk shall mean products which are not pre-packaged and are measured in the presence of the consumer,
trader shall mean any natural or legal person who sells or offers for sale products which fall within his commercial or professional activity,
consumer shall mean any natural person who buys a product for purposes that do not fall within the sphere of his commercial or professional activity.
Article 3
Member States may decide not to apply paragraph 1 to:
Article 4
Where national or Community provisions require the indication of the net weight and the net drained weight for certain pre-packed products, it shall be sufficient to indicate the unit price of the net drained weight.
Article 5
Article 6
If the obligation to indicate the unit price were to constitute an excessive burden for certain small retail businesses because of the number of products on sale, the sales area, the nature of the place of sale, specific conditions of sale where the product is not directly accessible for the consumer or certain forms of business, such as certain types of itinerant trade, Member States may, for a transitional period following the date referred to in Article 11 (1), provide that the obligation to indicate the unit price of products other than those sold in bulk, which are sold in the said businesses, shall not apply, subject to Article 12.
Article 6a
Article 7
Member States shall provide appropriate measures to inform all persons concerned of the national law transposing this Directive.
Article 8
Member States shall ensure that the following non-exhaustive and indicative criteria are taken into account for the imposition of penalties, where appropriate:
the nature, gravity, scale and duration of the infringement;
any action taken by the trader to mitigate or remedy the damage suffered by consumers;
any previous infringements by the trader;
the financial benefits gained or losses avoided by the trader due to the infringement, if the relevant data are available;
penalties imposed on the trader for the same infringement in other Member States in cross-border cases where information about such penalties is available through the mechanism established by Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 );
any other aggravating or mitigating factors applicable to the circumstances of the case.
Article 9
Article 10
This Directive shall not prevent Member States from adopting or maintaining provisions which are more favourable as regards consumer information and comparison of prices, without prejudice to their obligations under the Treaty.
Article 11
When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference at the time of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.
Article 12
The Commission shall, not later than three years after the date referred to in Article 11(1), submit to the European Parliament and the Council a comprehensive report on the application of this Directive, in particular on the application of Article 6, accompanied by a proposal.
The European Parliament and the Council shall, on this basis, re-examine the provisions of Article 6 and shall act, in accordance with the Treaty, within three years of the presentation by the Commission of the proposal referred to in the first paragraph.
Article 13
This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
Article 14
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
( 1 ) 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, p. 1).
( 1 ) OJ L 299, 12. 12. 1995, p. 11.