Developments on Consumer Protection sector in Romania

Very recently, the National Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC) published on its website two draft orders with impact on the information economic operators must provide to consumers.

Let’s take a closer look at the main highlights:

1. New requirements on online information display

Recent audits conducted by ANPC have uncovered some practices among economic operators active in the online landscape. It has come to light that while physical stores are required to display their operational documents, to provide consumers with accurate and transparent information about their legal operation, online stores have not been subject to the same requirement.

ANPC considers such information is essential in the decision-making process for consumers when purchasing goods/services as it offers the certainty that they are sold by authorized persons.

The draft order provides that online businesses which manage sales websites, online order-taking, advertising of products and/or services, tourist services, sale of tourist packages or airline tickets, including e-commerce, are required to display on the homepage of the website the following information: the name of the unit, the registration code with the trade register, which shows the object(s) of activity for which the company is authorized to operate, authorizations/permits necessary for carrying out activities.

These documents must be displayed in the visual field of the consumer, without being specified if the respective documents must displayed at the moment the website is accessed, or at the bottom of the homepage.

Implementation period: 30 days after publication in the Official Gazette.

The draft order regarding the consumer information provided by economic operators carrying out online activity has not been adopted yet and it is published on public transparency page of ANPC.

    2. New requirements on price display and loyalty tools

The draft order aims to oblige economic operators to provide consumers with clear and unambiguous information on product prices.

ANPC noticed in the market certain practices that aim to mislead consumers into making a purchase by presenting unclear information on product prices, depending on how the products are purchased (with or without a loyalty card).

Against this backdrop, ANPC proposes the following new requirements for both direct and online sales when using loyalty cards or other loyalty tools:

• In the case of direct sales, operators are obliged to display on the product or in its vicinity at least the highest price of that product, even if a reduced price is displayed as a result of using a loyalty card.
• In the case of online sales, operators are obliged to display at least the highest price of that product in the same visual field where the product is displayed, even if a reduced price is displayed as a result of using a loyalty card.
• All prices must be displayed using the same font, colour, size, and other characteristics.
• Operators are prohibited to request and use loyalty cards or other loyalty tools without offering any benefits to consumers.
• Implementation period: 30 days after the publication in the Official Gazette.

The Draft Order regarding the obligation of economic operators to provide consumers with clear and unambiguous information regarding the price of products is not adopted yet and it is published on public transparency page of ANPC.

We hope the above is useful. For more information, you can contact our lawyers: Amalia Musat and Roxana Sfetcu.