§1.1.1 National legislation concerning commercial practices but protecting interests other than consumers’ economic interests

Article 1 The purpose of this Directive is to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market and achieve a high level of consumer protection by approximating the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States on unfair commercial practices harming consumers’ economic interests. The UCPD does not cover national rules intended to protect interests which are not of an economic nature. Therefore, the UCPD does not affect the possibility of Member States to set rules regulating commercial practices for reasons of health, safety or environmental protection. Also existing national rules on marketing and advertising, based on ‘taste and decency’ are not covered by the UCPD. According to Recital 7, ‘This Directive […] does not address legal requirements related to taste and decency which vary widely among the Member States. […] Member States should accordingly be able to continue to ban commercial practices in their territory, in conformity with Community law, for reasons of taste and decency even where such practices do not limit consumers’ freedom of choice. […].’ Therefore, in the context of commercial practices, the UCPD does not cover national rules on protecting human dignity, preventing sexual, racial and religious discrimination or on the depiction of nudity, violence and antisocial behaviour. For example, the Court clarified that the UCPD did not apply to a national provision preventing a trader from opening its shop 7 days a week by requiring traders to choose a weekly closing day, as this specific provision did not pursue objectives related to consumer protection (9). The Court has further clarified that the UCPD does not preclude a national provision, which protects public health and the dignity of the profession of dentist, first, by imposing a general and absolute prohibition of any advertising relating to the provision of oral and dental care services and, secondly, by establishing certain requirements of discretion with regard to signs of dental practices (10). Conversely, national rules that aim to protect the economic interest of consumers, even if it is in conjunction with other interests, do fall within its scope. Concerning national rules banning sales with bonuses, the Court has clarified that the UCPD precludes a general national ban on sales with bonuses that is designed to achieve consumer protection and other objectives (such as the pluralism of the press) (11). Concerning national rules allowing clearance sales to be announced only if authorised by the competent district administrative authority, the Court noted that the referring court had implicitly accepted that such a provision, which was at stake in the case, was aimed at the protection of consumers and not solely at the protection of competitors and other operators in the market. Therefore, the UCPD was applicable (12).

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