The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

Abstract

The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive was adopted in 2005 and fully harmonises unfair commercial practices law in Europe. It aims to achieve a high level of consumer protection, to smoothen the functioning of the internal market and to increase competition in the market as such. The main consumer benchmark in the Directive is that of the average consumer, introduced by the CJEU in 1998. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive introduced two alternative benchmarks to that of the average consumer, i.e., the target group benchmark and the vulnerable group benchmark. The latter was introduced specifically to take away the criticism that the Directive offered insufficient protection to consumers. Both the target group benchmark and the vulnerable group benchmark aim to offer additional protection to more vulnerable groups. Under what circumstances the two alternative benchmarks can be applied, remains somewhat unclear on the basis of the Directive. However, the requirements for their application emphasise that they remain exceptions to the main benchmark of the Directive, i.e., the average consumer benchmark.