21.3.2009

Official Journal of the European Union

C 69/18

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof (Austria) lodged on 4 December 2008 — Mediaprint Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH & Co KG v ‘Österreich’-Zeitungsverlag GmbH

(Case C-540/08)

(2009/C 69/33)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Mediaprint Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH & Co KG

Defendant: ‘Österreich’-Zeitungsverlag GmbH

Questions referred

1.Do Articles 3(1) and 5(5) of 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 and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Unfair Commercial Practices Directive) or other provisions of that Directive preclude a national provision which makes it illegal to announce, offer or give bonuses, free of charge, with periodicals and newspapers, and to announce bonuses, free of charge, with other goods or services, apart from exhaustively specified exceptions, without it being necessary in any particular case to consider whether such a commercial practice is misleading, aggressive or otherwise unfair, even where that provision serves not only to protect consumers, but also serves other purposes which are not covered by the material scope of the Directive, for example, the maintenance of media diversity or the protection of weaker competitors?

2.If the first question is answered in the affirmative: Is the chance of taking part in a prize competition, which is acquired with the purchase of a newspaper, an unfair commercial practice within the meaning of Article 5(2) of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive merely because that chance is, for at least some of those to whom the offer is addressed, not the only, but the decisive reason for purchasing the newspaper?

OJ L 149, p. 22.