Unfair commercial practices

An important piece of consumer protection legislation, which also protects consumers' financial interests and their right to adequate information, is Act XLVII of 2008 on the Prohibition of Unfair Commercial Practices against Consumers (Act XLVII of 2008).

The focus of the regulation is on promoting informed transactional decisions free from unfair influence, balancing information asymmetry and weak consumer advocacy.

The Act stipulates that unfair commercial practices are prohibited. In particular, a commercial practice which is misleading or aggressive is unfair. Also noteworthy is the so-called "black list" in the annex to the Act which lists 35 specific prohibited practices.

It is important that the assessment of a commercial practice should always be based on the behaviour of the (average) consumer who is reasonably well informed and acts with the care and caution normally expected in the given situation, taking into account the linguistic, cultural and social (in particular family-related) aspects of the commercial practice or product. The "vulnerable consumer group" is particularly protected, for example senior citizens or children.

The consumer protection authority also has a special role to play in the control of unfair commercial communications, since it is the consumer protection authority that acts in cases of infringement of the prohibition of unfair commercial practices, with the exceptions provided for in the Act.