THE PROTECTION OF THE CONSUMERS’ RIGHTS REGARDING ONLINE MISLEADING AND COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION STRATEGY

The development of the Internet as a new communication medium between companies and consumers has outlined in time a number of unique benefits for the marketing promotional strategy, but it also outlined several disadvantages often related to the violation of the consumers’ rights. Using online marketing techniques and instruments for promotion has entailed not only the need to adapt the companies’ messages to the Internet characteristics, but also the need to know, comply and enforce a legislative framework regarding both the regulation of the traders’ activity and the defense and guarantee of the consumers’ rights. This paper aims to analyze through an exploratory research, based on the investigation of secondary sources as a data collection method, the main aspects relating to the breach of the legislation in effect by the companies that integrate online media in their advertising campaigns and also to determine the impact of their actions on the consumers. By correlating with the text of the European Union consumer policy strategy, the research focuses on studying some examples of misleading and comparative advertising campaigns conducted both online and offline in our country, that have violated the provisions of the directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006, transposed into law no. 158/2008 adopted by the Romanian Parliament and published on July 24, 2008. The main results of the article emphasize the need to improve the consumers’ experiences in the online environment by eliminating their distrust and removing any damages that they may suffer due to misinformation and unfair commercial practices. Hence, adapting to the digital age requires more attention from traders on ensuring consumer safety and providing a positive online experience.