§1.1.2 Commercial practices which relate to a business-to-business transaction or which harm only competitors’ economic interests

Recital 6 This Directive […] neither covers nor affects the national laws on unfair commercial practices which harm only competitors’ economic interests or which relate to a transaction between traders; taking full account of the principle of full subsidiarity, Member States will continue to be able to regulate such practices in conformity with Community law, if they choose to do so […]. Business-to-business (B2B) commercial practices do not fall within the scope of the UCPD. They are partly regulated under the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (13). Also, Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) on unfair trading practices regulates B2B relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain. Member States may however extend, under their national laws, the protection granted under the UCPD to B2B commercial practices. A national provision does not fall within the scope of the UCPD ‘if it aims solely, as argued by the referring court, at regulating relations between competitors and does not aim at protecting consumers (15)’. Only those national measures which protect exclusively competitors’ interests fall outside the scope of the UCPD. Where national measures regulate a practice with the dual aim of protecting consumers and competitors, they are covered by the UCPD. Regarding the distinction between consumers’ and competitors’ interests, the Court considered that: ‘39 […] As is evident from recital 6 in the preamble to [the UCPD], only national legislation relating to unfair commercial practices which harm ‘only’ competitors’ economic interests or which relate to a transaction between traders is thus excluded from that scope. 40 […] that is quite clearly not the case with the national provisions [that] refer expressly to the protection of consumers and not only to that of competitors and other market participants.’ (16) It is for national authorities and courts to decide whether a national provision is intended to protect consumers’ economic interests. The Court noted that: ‘29 It is therefore for the national court and not for this Court to establish whether the national provisions […] concerning price reduction announcements to consumers, actually pursue objectives relating to consumer protection, in order to determine whether such provisions are liable to fall within the scope of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive […].’ (17) The Court has also found that the UCPD precludes a national provision prohibiting sales at loss only in so far as its aim is to protect consumers (18). Regarding national rules prohibiting price reductions during pre-sales periods, the Court has clarified that such a prohibition is not compatible with the UCPD if it seeks to protect the economic interests of consumers (19).

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