NEW ! The Commission has made available the replies to the public consultation and a short summary of the responses .

This follows the Commission Communication on the Implementation of the Unit Prices Directive 1998/6/EC.

The purpose of the Communication was to examine how Member States had implemented the Directive. All interested parties were invited to submit replies to the Commission by 1 September 2006.

The «Unit Prices Directive» obliges traders to indicate the selling price and the price per unit of measurement on all the products which they offer to consumers. The aim is to improve consumer information and facilitate price comparison.

This information must be unambiguous, clearly legible and easily identifiable. If advertising mentions the selling price it must also indicate the unit price. For products sold in bulk, only the unit price must be indicated.

However, for some small retail businesses and for certain forms of itinerant trade, the obligation to indicate the unit price may be an excessive burden. In such cases the national authorities may stipulate that the obligation to indicate the unit price of products, other than those sold in bulk, shall not apply for a transitional period from March 2000 onwards.

Directive 98/6/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 February 1998 on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of products offered to consumers

Appraisal of Unit Prices Directive

An Appraisal of the Unit Prices Directive is available. This Appraisal was undertaken by EIM Business and Policy Research, "the contractor", for DG Health and Consumer Protection and was completed in August 2004. It represents the contractor's views. These views have not been adopted, or in any way approved, by the Commission and should not be relied upon as a statement of the Commission's or Health and Consumer Protection DG's views. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in the Appraisal, nor does it accept responsibility for any use made thereof.

Disclaimer: The responses to the public consultation have not been adopted or in any way approved by the Commission and should not be relied upon as a statement of the Commission's or Health & Consumer Protection DG's views. The European Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in these responses, nor does it accept responsibility for any use made thereof.

EC Consumer Law Compendium: a Comparative Analysis and a database of the EU Consumer Law Acquis