Advertising with price offers and discounts on consumer goods is a widespread marketing tool. From a market economy point of view, it is desirable, as it should ultimately enable the customer to get the best value for money. From a legal point of view, price competition is also permitted in principle. Lowering one's own prices in response to competitors' offers is also part of the desired fair price competition. In a recent ruling, the Austrian Supreme Court decided that this also applies in principle to short-term promotional offers (OGH 4 Ob 226/22x).

The national Unfair Competition Act, however, sets certain limits for advertising with promotions. On the one hand, it is inadmissible to advertise with the false claim that a product is only available for a very limited time at certain favourable conditions. The feigned time pressure can induce customers to make rash decisions or to bring forward their purchase decisions despite other disadvantages. On the other hand, promotional advertisements are also inadmissible if the advertiser has an insufficiently recognisable quantity of the promotional goods and thus the promotion is merely an apparent one.

However, advertising with special offers is permissible if there is a corresponding stock of goods. According to the current Supreme Court ruling, this also applies if the advertiser does not specify a specific promotion period. Thus, even very short-term promotions, which are only effective for a few days, can be offered. The Supreme Court states that there is no general obligation under Unfair Competition Law to make advertising statements complete, such as the specific duration of the promotion period. It is therefore not necessary to indicate the specific duration ("this week only") even in the case of short-term promotions.

Finally, it should be noted that the legal requirements for price indications must be observed in the case of special offers that also include instead of prices. In particular, the obligation to indicate the lowest price within the last 30 days as the previous price of this product at the same time as the special offer price must be mentioned. This provision, which implements the requirements of the Omnibus Directive (EU 2019/2161), is intended to prevent artificially high prices ("moon prices").

Conclusion

: The Austrian case law reflects the dynamic world of consumer goods and expressly confirms that advertising with special offers is also permissible without indicating the promotional period