§3.3.1 Personalised price

Article 6(1) (ea) where applicable, that the price was personalised on the basis of automated decision-making; This information requirement introduced by Directive (EU) 2019/2161 applies to distance and off-premises contracts. In practice, it will be relevant only for contracts concluded online that enable the use of automated decision making and profiling of consumer behaviour to personalise the price for specific consumers or specific categories of consumers. Where such techniques are used to personalise the price, consumers should be clearly and prominently informed, so that they can take into account the potential risks in their purchasing decision. As explained in Recital 45 of Directive (EU) 2019/2161, ‘this information requirement should not apply to techniques such as ‘dynamic’ or ‘real-time’ pricing that involve changing the price in a highly flexible and quick manner in response to market demands when those techniques do not involve personalisation based on automated decision-making. Dynamic pricing refers to prices change due to variables that are not customer-related, such as time of day, the available supply, competitors’ prices. When dynamic pricing is used without price personalisation, different consumers or groups of consumers should see the same price if they are shopping for the same product at the same time, regardless of their profile and individual features. Price differences due to variations in taxes or applicable charges (e.g. difference in VAT rates among Member States) also do not represent personalised pricing. Similarly, price reductions that are applied generally and do not target a specific individual or group selected by automated profiling also do not fall in the category of personalised pricing. Personalised pricing is about customisation. Traders gather data about individual consumers using automated decision-making to profile consumers’ behaviour. Data about the search history or computing device are some elements that could be used in order to determine the consumer’s profile. For example, an online trader could increase the price when it notes increased website traffic as a form of dynamic pricing. However, the consumer’s ‘number of clicks’ on a particular web page can also be used by the algorithm to profile that consumer’s behaviour and personalise the price for that consumer. The CRD requirement is limited to information about the fact of personalisation. This is an additional information requirement that should be complied with at the time of offering a personalised price. It is ‘without prejudice to Regulation (EU) 2016/679, which provides, inter alia, for the right of the individual not to be subjected to automated individual decision-making, including profiling’ (Recital 45 of Directive (EU) 2019/2161). Personalised pricing may fall under the specific rules on automated decision-making in Article 22 of the GDPR (94). Other GDPR requirements relevant in this context include the requirement for a legal basis under Article 6, as well as the information obligations under Articles 12 to 14. Provision of information about automated decision making in the privacy policy of the trader will not be sufficient for compliance with the pre-contractual information requirements about the price personalisation under the CRD. Information about the price personalisation should be provided before each transaction, not simply as part of the general information about processing of personal data by the trader.

← 3.3 · All articles · 3.3.2 →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07