The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, led by Pablo Bustinduyintends to sanction those businesses that carry out “false sales” during this Black Friday period. It will do so through a strict system of price monitoringin order to ensure that establishments do not incur fraudulent discounts during the time of significant discounts that are experienced during the Black Friday.
Misleading discounts, according to the ministry, include the fact that an operator raise the price of various products before Black Friday, and then reduce them back to their original price. Therefore, there is no effective reduction, but the consumer is deceived into thinking that there is.
These business practices are considered disloyal with consumers, by virtue of a breach of Article 47 of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users. Under the guidelines of this standard, these types of practices can be classified as serious infractions, entailing fines of up to 100,000 euros. This amount can be exceeded, however, up to reaching between four and six times the illicit benefit obtained.
In relation to the history of these practices, Consumption has already fined 90,000 euros to two e-commerce operators for carrying out fraudulent sales during the last Black Friday. Likewise, it keeps open files on six others large operators for this same practice last year.
Regarding the legal basis of the matter, article 20 of the Retail Trade Regulation Law indicates that whenever items are offered with a reduced price, the previous pricein order to carry out a correct comparison. The law in turn indicates that the previous price must be the lowest price applied on identical products in the preceding thirty days.
For its part, the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs is collecting information related to this type of practices, within the framework of an exhaustive investigation launched when considering indications that misleading sales are taking place during this Black Friday. Through the tool «Price Reduction Tool», of the European Commission, the ministry’s technical services are monitoring establishments to detect possible signs of fraudulent practices.
Regarding the products investigated, these are those related to purchases made by Internetin a wide range that includes sports, electronics or cosmetics. In this same investigation last year, the ministry concluded that more than one 20% of the products analyzed presented non-compliance, and that a 60% of companies committed this fraudulent practice.
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