E Commerce

The "Green Deal" - personally proclaimed by Mrs von der Leyen in 2019 - promised great things: climate neutrality by 2050, emissions trading and billions in financial aid. The "Empowering Consumers" Directive (EmpCo, 2024/825) is another milestone in the fight against climate change. At least that's how the Commission wants it to be understood. In addition to a ban on misleading green claims, the directive regulates comprehensive new information obligations for retailers. These are to be transposed into national law by March 2026 and apply from the end of September 2026. Specifically, the aim is to inform consumers about statutory warranty rights and voluntary manufacturer guarantees.

The federal states are on the way to regulating the monitoring of compliance with the BFSG by a standardised market surveillance authority. The current status and consequences are documented here.

In a judgement dated 11 February 2025 - 15 O 287/24, the Regional Court of Berlin II dealt with dark patterns in detail.

The warning association IDO has suffered its first serious setback before the BGH. Due to its lack of registration as a qualified trade association, the IDO can no longer enforce the judgements or injunctions it has obtained.

The value limit for advertising to the public with promotional gifts for medical products is €1. This was decided by the BGH in the case of a hearing care professional who advertised with a credit of PAYBACK points.

Digital contracts - Consumer protection - Making web processes legally compliant What many online shops are (still) doing wrong Digital benefits, free deliveries, bonus points: More and more shops are offering additional packages that customers can book for a one-off fee. These models often run for twelve months, end automatically - and are popular with consumers. However, there is always one problem: there is no cancellation option. The assumption behind this: "The contract ends anyway." But this can be legally problematic and can quickly become a risk in practice.

In a judgement dated 14 March 2025 - 7 HK O 50/23, which was obtained by HÄRTING Rechtsanwälte, the Regional Court of Trier ruled that a cease-and-desist declaration obtained by the IDO Interessenverband für das Rechts- und Finanzconsulting deutscher Online-Unternehmen e.V. (IDO) could be effectively terminated due to abuse of rights. Exceptionally, this cancellation also had retroactive effect on a contractual penalty that had already been claimed but not yet paid. The court found that the IDO may not demand contractual penalties because it lacks the authority to issue warnings as long as it is not entered in the list of trade associations of the Federal Office of Justice.

When does a customer review become advertising that must be attributed to the provider of a product? German courts have been dealing with this question for quite some time. The Bochum Regional Court (judgement of 21 November 2024 - 14 O 65/24) now had to decide in the case of a coffee roasting company, thereby supplementing the prevailing case law.

With its decision today, the Federal Court of Justice has confirmed Apple's cross-market significance for competition. The group, which is the most valuable company in the world with a market value of over 3 trillion US dollars, is now subject to increased supervision by the Federal Cartel Office.