EFTA Court defines scope of EU Directive on unfair commercial practices in Olympic ticketing on-sales

15/01/20

In a rare proceeding before the EFTA Court, in a reference from Norway, the Court interpreted the application of Directive 2005/29/EC concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market to the prohibition in the UK on the resale of tickets for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the effect of that in Norwegian Law.

The Court held that point 9 of Annex I to the Directive is to be interpreted as encompassing situations in which a trader states or otherwise creates an impression that a product can legally be sold when it cannot, by omitting to inform the consumer of any legal restriction affecting the sale, possession or use of a particular product in a way that might deceive the consumer. The Court further held that it does not have a bearing on that assessment whether such a national legislative prohibition applies in either the EEA State of sale, the EEA State of performance, or both.

The judgment is here and press release is here.