Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

Citation
European Commission, Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (Unfair Commercial Practices Directive) (UCPD) (full-text).

Overview
The Directive aims at protecting consumers from unfair practices which are likely to induce a transactional decision which they would otherwise not have taken. Common rules and principles provide consumers with protection against[unfair practices whether they are buying from their corner shop or purchasing from a website based abroad. Businesses can advertise and market to all consumers in the EU, in the same way as to their domestic customers.

Online gambling
Although the UCPD is without prejudice to authorization regimes such as the rules related to gambling activities, advertising and marketing practices fall within its scope. As a consequence, gambling advertising falls foul of the Directive if it is contrary to the requirements of professional diligence and if it is distorting the economic behavior of the average customer or a clearly identifiable group with an underlying vulnerability, e.g. minors, where the gambling provider can reasonably expect such a distortion. The UCPD bans in particular misleading and aggressive commercial practices.

Source

 * Staff Working Document Accompanying the Green Paper on On-line Gambling in the Internal Market, at 15 (used in "Online gambling" section).