How does the Omnibus directive work and can it be circumvented? There are exceptions to the obligation to indicate prices

The Omnibus Directive, as the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) of November 27, 2019, officially entered into force in Poland. From 1 January, stores are therefore obliged to place the lowest price from the last 30 days next to products sold on promotion.

In this text, we decided to explain how the directive works and which stores it covers and what products it applies to. It turns out that sellers still have some loopholes to hide the lowest prices of products.

What was the purpose of the Omnibus Directive?

Let’s start with the fact that the EU directive is intended to protect consumers against false promotions, i.e. situations when a store increases the price of a product (e.g. by PLN 1,000) and then lowers it (usually by a smaller amount – e.g. PLN 700). As a result, the customer thinks that he has saved, but in fact he spent more than before the promotion.

In practice, the lowest price in online stores appears as the third – next to the regular and promotional price. The Directive does not apply to products that have not been discounted. Stores are not required to list the lowest price for products sold at regular price (and, as you might guess, they don’t). Also when the price has been changed recently, but the offer is not marked as a promotion.

The first day after the entry into force of the directive in Poland showed that the practice of offering false promotions is very common in Polish stores. As we wrote on Monday, only a few moments were enough to reach the products, which in the promotion turned out to be even several hundred zlotys more expensive than in the last month. In most cases, however, the promotional price was the same or slightly different from the regular price.

Sellers still have loopholes not to inform us about the lowest prices

And there are at least a few of them. The first is combined promotions – e.g. the second product for half price, the third product 80 percent. cheaper, fourth for PLN, etc. It is similar in the case of promotions that “activate” e.g. after taking a set of products and discounts intended only for a specific group of recipients (e.g. holders of a promotional code).

It’s not hard to imagine that there could be abuse in this place. For example, in the case of “cheaper by…” promotion, the directive does not apply. It is enough that the reduced price will be shown only after entering the code (e.g. in the basket). Similarly, if the promotion applies only to holders of e.g. loyalty cards, which are so popular in discount stores and supermarkets.

The directive also does not specify how shops are to place information about the third price. Sellers are supposed to do this in a visible way, although it is not stated that the annotation must appear near the regular and promotional price. There are also no guidelines for font size or color, which means some stores may try to hide their 30-day lowest price a bit.

It is worth noting that in the case of a product on sale for less than 30 days, the store must also inform about the lowest price. Then, however, the period from the start of the sale is taken into account. In the case of products with a short expiry date, the seller only needs to inform about the price before the discount was first applied.

However, information about the lowest price does not have to be provided by sales intermediary services – e.g. price comparison websites. The exception are products that a given intermediary also allows you to buy at your place.

Since when and in which stores does the Omnibus Directive apply?

The directive was supposed to enter into force a long time ago, on May 28, 2022. However, some countries (including Poland) did not manage to introduce new regulations, so on the last holiday of the promotion (Black Friday) stores were not yet obliged to present the last lowest prices.

The provisions of the EU directive finally entered into force in Poland on January 1, 2023, which is why today the appropriate annotation about the lowest price should appear next to each discounted product. Practice shows, however, that some stores did not make it with the introduction of changes to the new year.

Importantly, the Omnibus Directive applies not only to online stores, but also to any form of sale. Therefore, not only stationary and online stores, but even sellers offering products over the phone must adapt to the requirements. The directive also applies to advertising. It also applies to both percentage and amount discounts.

There are penalties for non-compliance with the regulations. And it’s quite high. The detective assumes that the amount of the penalty will be determined in administrative or court proceedings and amounts to 4 percent. the seller’s annual turnover in a given country.