THE COMPETITION COUNCIL SANCTIONS EUROVAISTINĖ UAB FOR MISLEADING ADVERTISING

Having considered the findings of the completed investigation „On the compliance of EUROVAISTINĖ UAB with the requirements of Article 5 of the Law on Advertising“ and all related circumstances the Competition Council imposed a fine of LTL 27,000 upon EUROVAISTINĖ UAB (the Company) for the infringement of Article 5 of the Law on Advertising. The Company was also obligated to cease using the advertising statements recognised as misleading where such actions were still continued.

The statement recognised to be misleading was the claim operated by the Company for a significant duration (2004 – 2008) running “EUROVAISTINĖ - the leader of lowest prices” and other statements on TV and radio channels claiming that within the duration of the promotion action the consumers using any payment card issued by “Hansabank” were offered a 10 percent discount on any purchase.

In the opinion of the Competition Council the statements published by the Company concerning the special 10 percent discount in case of payment by any card of “Hansabank” were misleading since only some of the items were sold at discount, and could have and actually did mislead consumers (the investigation was initiated in response to a complaint from a consumer). For that reason affected by the advertising statements consumers were prompted to arrive and purchase the goods specifically in the drug stores run by the Company, as they were reasonably expecting to be offered a 10 percent discount for all goods as long as they pay with any payment card issued by “Hansabank”. Thus the incorrect advertising statements did mislead the consumers and had an impact on their economic behaviour, and therefore could adversely affect the possibilities of other undertakings to compete.

The advertising statement “EUROVAISTINĖ - the leader of lowest prices” was likewise recognised misleading. Having considered that in the course of the investigation the Company was not able to present any evidence substantiating the correctness of the statements the Competition Council concluded that the statement “EUROVAISTINĖ – the leader of lowest prices“ could have created a misleading impression upon consumers that in all cases any pharmacy with the EUROVAISTINĖ trade mark was offering all goods and medicines on lowest prices, and that there was no any other pharmacy that could offer any wider range of the goods at lower prices. Furthermore, the reference in the advertising statement to the lowest price could have contributed to misleading the consumers, since price, as a quality of the good is one of the most important factors in shaping the consumer behaviour (decision to purchase). Thus the advertising statements could mislead the consumers and affect their economic behaviour and eventually adversely affect the possibilities of other undertakings to compete.

When imposing the fine the Competition Council duly considered the alleviating circumstances – the Company voluntarily prevented the detrimental consequences of the infringement and terminated the use of advertising statement “EUROVAISTINĖ - the leader of lowest prices”.

The Competition Council in this respect specifically notes that any undertaking,prior to starting to use any advertising statements must ascertain the correctness of the statements and, while using the statements must be able to produce the substantiating evidence. In the event the statement includes any adjectives in the superlative the advertising provider must be able to produce evidence that the good marketed or service provided is unique and actually has the quality being advertised.