Many consumers have been in the starting blocks since the opening of the 2022 summer sales. The objective: to identify interesting products so that they can then buy them at bargain prices.
But for those who are not so scrupulous, it is easy to fall into the trap of false promotions.
Indeed, if the law requires that the items on sale have been on the shelves for at least one month, the vagueness reigns on the other hand as to their reference price (the one from which the reduction is calculated) since the merchant is free to determine as he sees fit, as long as he can justify it.
Enough to open the way to certain abuses…
But, good news, thanks to the European Omnibus directive, which came into force in France on May 28, 2022, there will be no more uncertainty!
From now on, the law is clear: the price before reduction must correspond to the lowest price practiced by the seller during the last 30 days.
And all promotional operations are concerned, in store and online, whether it's sales, Black Friday or the various occasional reductions offered during the year.
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For the record, however, note that this measure is actually identical to that which was applied in France between 2008 and 2015. Except that at that time, the price reduction announcement did not fall within the scope of the unfair commercial practices recognized by the Union.
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However, in this area, European legislation prohibits Member States from adopting rules that are more restrictive than those of the EU.
This is why Belgium was condemned by the Court of Justice of the European Union on July 10, 2014 precisely because of its regulations similar to ours.
Following this, the French legislator therefore had to review its copy by relaxing the framework of the reference price.
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