Misleading and Comparative Advertising in Romania

Misleading and comparative advertising are legal concepts significant to conclusively draw boundaries between what is allowed while promoting a product or a service and what is a clear case of violation of the law. Comparative advertising is an alternative that eliminates applicable cases of misleading advertising and Romanian legislation introduces specific regulations which establish fundamental distinctions between the two situations. The first aspect that distinguishes the concept of misleading advertising is the lack of clarity in motivating targeted people. Such information can be of different origins but it is always influencing the economic behavior of consumers or traders causing also significant changes at competitive neutrality levels.

Main Characteristics of Comparative Advertising in Romania

From a different perspective, comparative advertising delivers an implicit or explicit discourse which refers or alludes to competitive products always within legal boundaries, as well maintaining the competitive equilibrium. In this case, any confusion is completely avoided so the consumer is never misguided, the reputation of the brand is respected as such, there is no activity to compromise the commercial designation, it does not imply an imitating phenomenon of another product, the comparison techniques are based on a number of real arguments and always apply to goods or services that serve an identical spectrum. On 3^rd of July 2013, in the Official Gazette it was published the Law No.202/2013 amending and supplementing Law No. 158/2008 concerning misleading advertising. This translates into a process of securing traders ‘position determining the avoidance of misleading advertising. This act introduces a series of stipulations indicating the exact circumstances which allow comparative advertising in Romania.

These changes are intended to solve a number of issues related to ensuring compliance with legislation and regulatory requirements, indicating the competent authorities, "determining the ordinary time limit related to complains made by consumers involving comparative advertising allegations ", creating an optimal legal framework. Thus a number of distinctions are being made between legal circumstances that aim to protect consumers’ interests. This perspective indicates the competent authority as The National Authority for Consumer Protection (NAPC). There is also introduced a definition of the concept of consumer via the Government Ordinance no. 21/1992 pointing also all situations involving consumers ‘presence. The changes made at this level specify the perimeter which controls comparative advertising for both natural and legal persons; misleading advertising in Romania is only redefined in the interactions between legal entities. In terms of the provisions introduced, the authority declared as responsible for monitoring and enhancement of law in order to combat and eliminate misleading advertising is represented by the Ministry of Public Finance and, in special cases, by the National Audiovisual Council. Our company encourages a coherent and transparent approach in all cases covering this area and our intellectual property department provides advice in all matters related to competitive and misleading advertising issues. Explaining the real legal framework is a fundamental step in understating any case related to this topic in order to identify effective solutions to protect our client's position. Our lawyers come with outspoken answers and prominent strategies always delivering the optimal resolution.