Product addition
A product addition (short addition or extra ) is a product or commercial service that is offered, announced or granted as a gift or at a reduced price in addition to another product or commercial service. An example of this is the addition of toys to children's menus in fast food restaurants . Product additions are an important means of sales promotion . Their effect is comparable to that of a price reduction . Free gifts are a form of free goods .
An addition is also present if a product or service is offered, announced or granted with another product or service at a total price to conceal it.
Legal situation in Germany
In Germany, the addition regulation was in effect until 2001 , which only allowed additions in exceptional cases. In particular, advertising items of lower value were permitted that were identified as such by a permanent and clearly visible label or if minor items were granted.
The granting of instructional and entertaining content to customer magazines , which, according to their design and design, serve the advertising of customers and the interests of the distributor, make this purpose recognizable by means of a corresponding imprint on the title page and are of low value in terms of their production costs, are given to the consumer free of charge , was also not subject to the prohibition on adding. Additions in the form of providing information or advice were also unproblematic.
The addition of customary accessories to the goods or customary ancillary services was also permitted. A customary ancillary service is z. B. A reimbursement or assumption of travel costs for local public transport , which are reasonable with regard to the value of the goods or services , which have been incurred in connection with visiting the business premises or the place where the service is provided.
In favor of the recipients of a newspaper or magazine could encore insurance be taken out with supervised insurance companies or insurance companies.
With the entry into force of the law to abolish the discount law and the bonus regulation on July 25, 2001, both regulations no longer apply. However, this does not affect the general requirements for discounts , price setting and misleading gifts of the Act against Unfair Competition . Additions to tobacco products are also prohibited according to Section 26 of the Tobacco Tax Act .
Legal situation in Austria
In the Austrian law against unfair competition (UWG), add-ons were generally prohibited for decades (with a few exceptions) because of the risk of price concealment. The European Court of Justice ruled in November 2010 that this prohibition of gifts is contrary to EU guidelines .
The legislature then deleted Section 9a from the law when it was revised in January 2013. The announcement, offering and granting of gifts to consumers is only inadmissible if it is misleading, aggressive or otherwise unfair in individual cases.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ See gifts allowed - bogus prices forbidden (on www.dbj.at) (PDF; 20 kB)
- ↑ Prohibition of additions lifted: National Council passed antitrust and competition law amendment law 2012 ( memento of the original from May 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wko.at
