Misleading advertising and comparative advertising (amend. Directive 84/450/EEC)

Pointing out that it would still take another 30 months before the Member States incorporated this into national legislation, the rapporteur welcomed the new directive which would provide consumers with useful information and simplify their choices, prevent competition distortion between Member States and, finally, tackle the cross-border aspect of complaints. Commissioner Bangemann explained that the procedure had taken so long because the Commission needed to check whether all the steps which it intended to take in this respect were necessary under the principle of subsidiarity. The Commissioner also promised to very closely monitor cases of cross-border complaints.