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Home› Competition & Unfair Trade Practices› UWG (EN)

Section 5a

Misleading by omission

(1) Unfairness is also deemed to have occurred where a person misleads a consumer or other market participant by omitting material information

1.  which the consumer or other market participant needs, according to the relevant context, to take an informed transactional decision and

2.  whose omission is likely to cause the consumer or other market participant to take a transactional decision which he or she would not have taken otherwise.

(2) The following are also regarded as an omission of information:

1.  the hiding of material information,

2.  the provision of material information in an unclear, unintelligible or ambiguous manner and

3.  the provision of material information in an untimely manner.

(3) When assessing whether material information has been omitted, consideration is to be given to the following:

1.  the limitations of space or time imposed by the medium used to communicate the commercial practice and

2.  any measures taken by the entrepreneur to make the information available to consumers or other market participants by means other than by the medium used to communicate the commercial practice.

(4) Unfairness is also deemed to have occurred where the commercial intent of a commercial practice is not identified, unless this is directly apparent from the context, and where such failure to identify the commercial intent is suited to causing the consumer or other market participant to take a transactional decision which he or she would not have taken otherwise. An activity has no commercial purpose for the benefit of another entrepreneur if the person or entity engaged in it does not obtain payment or a similar consideration, nor a promise thereof, for the activity undertaken by the other entrepreneur. The obtaining or promising of a consideration is assumed to have occurred unless the person or entity engaged in the activity substantiates that he, she or it has not obtained any such consideration.

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