Misleading practices of ‘directory companies’ in the context of current and future internal market legislation aimed at the protection of consumers and SMEs

Executive summary This study by Civic Consulting provides an overview of the extent of the problem of directory companies reported to apply misleading practices. It describes judicial and nonjudicial measures taken by affected enterprises and discusses initiatives by Member States aimed at tackling these practices. The study further presents an overview of the current EU legal framework and its national implementation. Finally, the study presents overall conclusions with a discussion of options for EU-level action. The analysis of this study has been based on several resources. Stakeholders and competent authorities have been involved throughout the process of the data analysis by means of interviews and surveys. Several case studies were carried out for the report to document court cases and actions taken against directory companies reported to apply misleading practices. A detailed legal analysis for three Member States was carried out (for Austria, the Netherlands and Spain). The country reports examine the transposition of the Directive concerning Misleading and Comparative Advertising and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive into national legislation, and possible resulting loopholes, as well as jurisprudence and other measures taken by the respective Member States.