CONSUMER LAW | The ECJ on the information obligations of traders in the energy sector

On 23 January 2025, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued its judgment in case C‑518/23 concerning a request for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Article 7(1) of the Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices, that was submitted in the context of a dispute concerning allegedly misleading advertising of an offer to supply electricity. In its Judgment, the ECJ held that an invitation to purchase (the Invitation) made by means of an online advertisement constitutes a misleading commercial practice if the trader conceales information on the method of calculating the price or presents it in an unclear or ambiguous manner. In addition, the ECJ held that the unfairness of the practice should be assessed in the light the particular circumstances of the case, including the spatial and temporal conditions of the means of communication used and the measures taken by the trader to make that information available to the consumer by other means. The ECJ then concluded that the Provision required the professional to indicate in the Invitation the general possibility of using a percentage of a variable component for the calculation of the final electricity price and the possible factors affecting it. This was sufficient to enable the average consumer to make an informed commercial decision.

Newsletter n. 104 – February 2025