Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2014:150
Date: 2014-03-13
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: Competition;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber), 13 March 2014 Approximation of laws — Misleading advertising and comparative advertising — Directive 2006/114 — Scope — Protection afforded to traders — Concepts of ‘misleading advertising’ and ‘unlawful comparative advertising’ — Uniform interpretation of EU law — Differences between the various language versions — General scheme and purpose of the rules in question as a reference point — Autonomous nature of the infringements (European Parliament and Council Directive 2006/114) With regard to the protection afforded to traders, Directive 2006/114 concerning misleading and comparative advertising must be interpreted as referring to misleading advertising and unlawful comparative advertising as two independent infringements and to the effect that, in order to prohibit and penalise misleading advertising, it is not necessary that that latter at the same time should constitute unlawful comparative advertising. (see para 28, operative part)