Outlook of the European Court of Justice Regarding Comparative Advertising

Advertising transcends the borders of the States and has an impact on the single market. Moreover, it may lead to distortions of competition. One purpose of regulating advertising stems from the imperatives of protecting consumers. They are the recipients of the advertising message and their interests can be harmed by advertising. Misleading advertising is prohibited, as is comparative advertising, in certain situations, in expressly determined hypotheses. The analysis in concreto of two such facts, in the reflection of the decisions given by the European Court of Justice, is the theme of this study. At the same time, we will analyze the sanctions regulated at national level in the event of committing the acts that constitute illicit comparative advertising, as well as the administrative bodies empowered to apply the sanctions in order to clean up the competitive environment.