§2.9.1 Material information

COMMISSION NOTICE – Guidance on the interpretation and application of Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market · European Union

Articles 7(1) and (2) establish in very general terms a positive obligation on traders to provide all the information which the average consumer needs to make an informed purchasing decision. This is what is called ‘material information’ in Article 7. The UCPD does not define ‘material information’, except for in the specific case of an ‘invitation to purchase’, which is dealt with in Article 7(4) (see section 2.9.5). In addition, Article 7(5) UCPD clarifies that ‘information requirements established by EU law in relation to commercial communication, including advertising’, shall be regarded as material (see section 1.2.2). In contrast, as explained in recital 15, where Member States have introduced information requirements over and above what is specified in Community law, on the basis of minimum clauses, the omission of that extra information will not constitute a misleading omission under this Directive. In order to assess on a case-by-case basis whether material information has been omitted, national authorities and courts need to take into account all features and circumstances of a given commercial practice, including the limitations of the medium used to communicate it. For example: — A national authority acted against a trader who offered life insurance products without including material information in the advertising. The trader claimed that the relatives of a person covered by the insurance would obtain all insurance benefits if that person died. However, the trader omitted to inform consumers that if the person died within the first 24 months of the contract for reasons other than an accident, the relatives would only receive limited insurance benefits (189). — Some comparison tools use claims such as ‘best deals’ to identify not necessarily the cheapest deals, but rather those that offer the best value for money. Omitting information about the criteria for the ‘best deal’ claim could be misleading under Article 7 of the UCPD.

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