La pubblicità comparativa dei prodotti alimentari alla luce della giurisprudenza della Corte di giustizia dell'Unione europea

The article analyses the rules of the European Union concerning comparative advertising as interpreted by the European Court of Justice, in particular on the occasion of judgements relating to the advertising of food products. The Court has admitted the possibility to compare foods and has adopted a positive orientation, interpreting the lawfulness conditions of com- parative advertising in a wide manner. It has, for example, established that the fact that food products may differ in terms of conditions and place of pro- duction, their ingredients, who produced them, and the pleasure that derives from consuming them, cannot preclude the possibility of the comparison. It has moreover approved those advertisements that compare the price trends of different supermarkets. However, in concrete terms this kind of advertising is of hard implementation because it often reveals itself as misleading, and therefore prohibited.