FINE FOR AN INCOMPLETE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONCERT

The Competition Council passed a Resolution concerning the compliance with the requirements of the Law on Advertising of the advertising statement published by UAB Zepter International by TV and radio channels, the information screens in trade centres and in a daily on the concert of Laima Vaikulė held on 14 October 2007 in Siemens arena in Vilnius. The advertising of the concert which omitted the information on the presentation of the production distributed by UAB Zepter International was recognised by the Competition Council to constitute misleading advertising. The provider of the advertising – UAB Zepter International was, by the Resolution of the Competition Council, subjected to a fine of LTL 10,000 for the infringement of Article 5 of the Law on Advertising of the Republic of Lithuania.

Having conducted an investigation according to the complaint lodged by a consumer the Competition Council established that the advertising of the event-concert “Zepter introduces Laima Vaikulė show” (“Zepter pristato Laimos Vaikulės šou“) was incomplete and therefore could mislead the users of the advertising wishing to attend the concert and have an impact upon their economic behaviour when taking a decision or performing the actions related to the acquisition of the tickets to the concert. Having arrived to the Siemens arena the visitors had to wait for two hours for the beginning of the concert which was not indicated in the tickets. The event in the Siemens arena started at 6.00 p.m. and Laima Vaikulė's concert – at 8.00 p.m. The two hours before concert were dedicated to the presentation of the Zepter products where the visitors were also invited to conclude the product purchase-sale agreements.

For the advertising statement to be not misleading in respect of the users of the advertising the statement had to include all additional terms related to the event. The statement that was examined by the Competition Council did not indicate that the concert will start at a later hour than indicated in the tickets and only following the presentation of Zepter products. Without having been provided such information the user, having paid for the tickets could reasonably expect the concert to start at the time indicated in the tickets.