EU 30-day lowest price rule (Omnibus Directive) explained

The EU 30-day lowest price rule fits in one sentence: when a shop announces a price reduction, it has to show the lowest price it charged in the 30 days before. The rule comes from the Omnibus Directive and has applied in the Member States since 28 May 2022. This guide explains what the text says, how the European Commission and the Court of Justice read it, and where online shops most often go wrong.

What the rule says

Directive (EU) 2019/2161, usually called the Omnibus Directive, added a new Article 6a to the Price Indication Directive 98/6/EC. Its first two paragraphs are the heart of the rule:

1. Any announcement of a price reduction shall indicate the prior price applied by the trader for a determined period of time prior to the application of the price reduction.

2. The prior price means the lowest price applied by the trader during a period of time not shorter than 30 days prior to the application of the price reduction.

— Article 6a(1) and (2) of Directive 98/6/EC, inserted by Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2019/2161

Three things follow from these two sentences.

• The trigger is an announcement. A shop that changes a price without presenting it as a reduction is not covered. The Commission guidance puts it this way: “Article 6a does not deal with, and does not restrict in any way, price fluctuations and price decreases that do not involve a price reduction announcement.”
• “Prior price” is a defined term. It is not the last price before the sale, the usual price or the recommended retail price. It is the lowest price of at least the previous 30 days.
• It is a directive. Each Member State had to write it into national law by 28 November 2021 and apply it from 28 May 2022. Wording, options and penalties differ, so check the national law of the countries you sell to.

The Commission’s guidance on Article 6a (Notice 2021/C 526/02) is not binding: it says itself that “only the text of the Union legislation itself has legal force”. It is still the most detailed official explanation.

Who the rule applies to

The rule binds the trader. The guidance reads that as the seller of the goods: the party that concludes the contract with the consumer.

• Goods, not services. The guidance states that the Price Indication Directive covers goods and that Article 6a “does not apply to services (including digital services) or to digital content”. Reduction claims for those are judged under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive instead.
• Every sales channel. Article 6a applies “in all distribution channels (e.g. brick and mortar shops, online)”.
• Marketplaces. According to the guidance, the seller is responsible, not a marketplace that only provides the means to sell. A marketplace is covered when it is itself the seller or sells on behalf of another trader.
• Shops outside the EU. The guidance says: “Article 6a applies also to traders based outside the EU that direct their sales to EU consumers, including to traders offering goods via platforms.” This is the Commission’s reading, based on the EU rules on applicable law. How a national authority acts against a trader abroad is a separate question. If you actively sell to consumers in an EU country, check that country’s version of the rule.

What counts as a price reduction announcement

The directive does not define “announcement of a price reduction”. The guidance does, with examples.

The right-hand column is not unregulated. The guidance stresses that these practices remain subject to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

Site-wide campaigns

A banner that says “20% off on everything today” does not have to list prior prices. The guidance explains that the prior price “must be indicated at the point of sale, i.e. on the respective price tags in shops or price sections in online shop interfaces”. For an online shop, that points to the price area of each product covered by the campaign.

Loyalty programmes and personalised discounts

The guidance places two things outside Article 6a: loyalty programmes that give a discount “during extended continuous periods (e.g. 6 months, 1 year)” or let customers collect points, and real personalised reductions, such as a voucher received after a purchase.

Reductions “presented as personalised” but in reality offered to consumers in general are covered. The guidance’s example is “This weekend 20% off on everything for loyalty members only”, where most customers are members. The prior price is then the lowest publicly available price of the last 30 days.

How the prior price is determined

According to the guidance:

1. Count back from the start of the reduction. The prior price is set when the reduction begins. Traders “can keep it throughout the entire period of the price reduction”, including when the reduction runs for more than 30 days.
2. Take the lowest price, promotions included. “Such lowest price shall include any previous ‘reduced’ price during that period.” A weekend promotion three weeks ago counts.
3. Work per sales channel. Where a trader sells at different prices in different channels or points of sale, the prior price for each is the lowest price applied in that channel.
4. Other reference prices may be added, such as a regular price outside promotions, provided they are clearly explained, do not create confusion and do not draw attention away from the prior price.

The guidance gives a worked example. A shop announces “50% off”. The lowest price in the previous 30 days was €100, although the last price was €160. The shop has to present €100 as the prior price, and the 50% is calculated from €100.

The options left to Member States

Article 6a(3) to (5) lets each Member State adjust the rule in three situations. Not every country used every option.

The Aldi Süd judgment and percentage claims

On 26 September 2024 the Court of Justice decided case C-330/23, Verbraucherzentrale Baden-Württemberg v Aldi Süd, referred by a German court.

A weekly brochure advertised bananas at €1.29 with a percentage reduction and a struck-through price of €1.69. Small print gave the lowest price of the last 30 days as €1.29, the same as the offer price. Pineapples were advertised as a “price highlight” at €1.49 next to a struck-through €1.69, while their lowest price of the last 30 days was €1.39.

The Court answered:

Article 6a(1) and (2) of Directive 98/6 must be interpreted as meaning that it requires that a price reduction of a product announced by a trader in the form of a percentage, or in the form of a promotional statement intended to highlight the advantageous nature of the announced price, must be determined on the basis of the ‘prior price’, within the meaning of paragraph 2 of that article.

— Judgment in case C-330/23, paragraph 29

For a shop, the judgment means two things.

• Mentioning the prior price is not enough. Printing the 30-day lowest price as extra information while calculating the percentage from a higher price does not meet Article 6a.
• No reduction without a lower price. The Court added that a price presented as reduced “cannot in fact be the same as that ‘prior price’, or be higher than it” (paragraph 27).

Variants: why one figure per product can be wrong

Neither the directive nor the guidance mentions product variants. The reasoning below is ours, drawn from how the texts define a price.

The guidance refers to the selling price as the final price for a unit of the product. In an online shop, each size or colour can have its own price and its own price history, and the shopper buys the variant at the variant’s price.

Take a T-shirt now shown at €25 with a “sale” label. Size M cost €30 all month. Size XL was on promotion at €22 two weeks ago.

• One figure for the whole product (€22) placed under size M states a prior price that M never had.
• The same campaign on size XL is a different case: its lowest 30-day price is €22, so €25 is not below its prior price at all.

Working the prior price out per variant avoids both problems. StoreCompliant’s 30-day lowest price line therefore keeps a price history for every variant and shows a figure only where it has a record.

Common mistakes

• Using the last price or the “regular” price as the reference.
• Forgetting an earlier promotion inside the 30-day window.
• Calculating the percentage from another price than the prior price, the practice examined in Aldi Süd.
• Counting back from today instead of from the start of the reduction.
• Raising a price shortly before a campaign and using the raised price as the reference.
• Treating a public discount code as “personalised”.
• Leaving the prior price out of the price area of each product during a site-wide campaign.
• Keeping no price history. A shop without records cannot show how it arrived at a prior price.

A checklist for a discounted product page

1. Is the price presented as reduced (crossed-out price, percentage, “sale”, badge)?
2. Is the prior price shown next to the reduced price, in the price area?
3. Is it the lowest price of at least the 30 days before this reduction started, including earlier promotions?
4. Is it the figure for the selected variant and for this sales channel?
5. Is any percentage or amount saved calculated from the prior price?
6. Is the current price actually lower than the prior price?
7. Does your national law use one of the Member State options, or add requirements on wording?
8. Can you produce the price history behind the figure if an authority asks?

How enforcement works

The guidance states that “national authorities will be in charge of enforcing these rules”. In cross-border cases, authorities can cooperate under Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 on consumer protection cooperation.

Penalties are set nationally. Article 8 of the Price Indication Directive, as replaced by the Omnibus Directive, requires Member States to lay down penalties that are “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. The amounts are in national law, not in the directive.

Authorities are not the only route. The Aldi Süd case started with an action brought by a consumer association before a German court.

The same shops now also have to show the EU legal guarantee notice and the EU withdrawal button. Short answers are in the FAQ, and the plans and pricing page lists what each plan covers.