Rules on price disclosure to be changed
Advertising that includes price offers or discounts is subject to certain regulations. For example, the actual price to be paid must be stated in the advertisement. Now, the rules are set to be relaxed. Following the Council of States, the National Council’s Legal Affairs Committee has also come out in favor of this.
By 16 votes to 7 with one abstention, the committee adopted a request from a motion by Councillor of States Filippo Lombardi (CVP/TI), as reported by the parliamentary services on Friday. Lombardi is President of the umbrella organization KS/CS Kommunikation Schweiz.
The Federal Council is to amend the Price Disclosure Ordinance so that the mandatory information no longer has to be communicated on the advertising material itself. In future, it should be permissible to provide the mandatory information by means of digital references such as QR codes or URLs.
The National Council Committee is of the opinion that this is more beneficial to consumer protection than "small print" on advertising material. According to the committee, it is easier for consumers to read the mandatory information electronically.
Opponents fear a loss of transparency. The Federal Council also opposes the motion. It shares the view that price disclosure should be consumer-friendly, it wrote in its statement. In its view, however, the motion is misguided.
For example, it is more than questionable whether consumers would actually be served if they had to go into the immediate vicinity of billboard advertising in order to read a QR code or URL with their smartphone.
The National Council will decide on the motion. The motion originally contained a further demand. However, Lombardi withdrew this. (SDA/hae)
