Omnibus & Price-Reduction Rules in Austria
Omnibus DirectiveIf you advertise discounts to Austrian consumers, the Omnibus Directive (EU) 2019/2161 shapes how you may present them. The Directive has applied across the EU since 28 May 2022, and its most talked-about element for online sellers is the 30-day lowest-prior-price rule. Austria has transposed the Directive into national law, and the rules are enforced by the Austrian authorities that oversee consumer and market conduct.
This guide explains what the Omnibus rules require of a store selling into Austria and how the national picture fits around them. For the wider framework, see our Omnibus law page, the complete Omnibus guide, and our Austria compliance overview.
The 30-day lowest-price rule
The headline requirement is straightforward in principle. When you announce a price reduction on a product, you must state the prior price — and that prior price is the lowest price you applied to the product during at least the 30 days before the reduction. The aim is to stop the classic trick of inflating a price shortly before a “sale” so the discount looks bigger than it really is.
In practice, that means your reference price for a discount cannot simply be whatever the price happened to be yesterday. If the item was cheaper at any point in the preceding 30 days, that lower figure is the one your reduction must be measured against.
What else the Omnibus rules cover
The price-reduction rule tends to grab the attention, but the Omnibus Directive brought a broader set of transparency duties that apply in Austria too:
- Consumer reviews — if you display reviews, you must state whether and how you check that they come from real purchasers.
- Ranking transparency — where you rank search results, you must disclose the main parameters that determine that ranking.
- Marketplace disclosures — online marketplaces must make clear whether a third-party seller is a trader or a private individual.
Who enforces the rules in Austria
Enforcement in Austria runs through the national market and consumer-protection authorities, and consumer bodies play a notable role in practice. The Verein für Konsumenteninformation (VKI) — Austria’s long-established consumer information association — is an active player in pursuing misleading commercial practices, and misleading discount claims fall squarely within that territory.
The Austrian process works in German
Austria operates in German, so consumer information, complaints and any enforcement correspondence are conducted in the language. For an international seller that is worth planning for, particularly if your customer-facing pricing and terms need to be intelligible to German-speaking Austrian consumers.
The Omnibus rules are EU-wide, but in Austria they are enforced nationally by the market and consumer authorities — with the VKI a prominent voice — and the process runs in German.
A practical checklist for the Austrian market
- When you show a price reduction, display the lowest price from the preceding 30 days as the reference.
- Keep price history so you can justify the reference price you show.
- State whether displayed reviews are verified as coming from real purchasers.
- Disclose the main ranking parameters where you present search results.
- Make trader-versus-private status clear if you operate a marketplace.
If you would like a structured review of how your store presents discounts and pricing to Austrian buyers, our PrestaShop compliance audit checks your pricing displays and information duties against the applicable rules.
This article is educational and does not constitute legal advice.