Last week we shared information about the laws that will regulate fake reviews. This week we bring you the regulations that came into force at European level for increase price transparency and ensure rebates are applied.
The Price Indication Directive (DIP) It came into force on May 28, 2022 and will affect all merchants that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA) or that operate in these countries. Therefore, we are going to explain everything to you.
What does the Price Indication Directive say?
One of the most important sections of this regulation is the regulation of promotions in the European Union, because in recent years with the boom of the online channel a lot of controversy has been created at the time of sales. Many companies have been accused of raising prices before promotional campaigns such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, in order to lower prices later. With the DIP, merchants will have to indicate the lowest price at which the products were sold for at least the last 30 days before starting the promotion.
Brands that sell both in the online and physical channels will have to indicate the previous price both in the physical points and in the store. product page, checkout page, email communications or any other sales channel.
Some of the exceptions to this regulation are:
- In personalized discounts, it will not be mandatory to show the price that the product had before. This applies to other cases such as promotional codes, vouchers, birthday gifts, credits or points that are offered to certain customers.
- Price fluctuations or unpromoted sales.
- Combined offers.
Each member state has room to decide the amount of sanctions
For now, the European Union has not decided what the sanction will be. The only thing they point out in the DIP is that the sanctions must be «effective, proportionate and dissuasive«.
Not knowing what will be the sanction that regulators can impose in each country causes uncertainty among traders. They will not be able to know each other until they fail to comply for the first time.
