Unfair commercial practices in Cyprus: what is banned

Most businesses meet consumer law through the rules on contracts: what has to be in them, what cannot be, how long a consumer has to change their mind. Part II of the Consumer Protection Law is a different instrument. It regulates conduct rather than terms, and it applies before, during and after a transaction, whether or not a contract is ever concluded.

That reach is the point most often missed. Under section 3(1) the Part applies to unfair business to consumer commercial practices before, during and after a commercial transaction relating to a product. An advertisement that never produced a sale is inside it. So is the way a trader behaves once the sale is done.

What counts as a commercial practice

Section 4 defines it broadly: any act, omission, course of conduct, representation or commercial communication, including advertising and marketing, by a trader, directly connected with the promotion, sale or supply of a product to consumers. Product is equally broad and expressly includes immovable property, a digital service, digital content, and rights and obligations.

Two further definitions do a great deal of work. A transactional decision is any decision on whether, how and on what terms to buy, to pay in whole or in part, to retain or dispose of a product, or to exercise a contractual right over it, whether the consumer decides to act or not to act. And the average consumer is one who is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, taking account of social, cultural and linguistic factors.

The test, and its four routes

Section 5(1) is one line: unfair commercial practices are prohibited. Section 5(2) then gives four routes to unfairness, and a practice needs to travel only one of them. A practice is unfair where it is:

• contrary to the requirements of professional diligence, which section 4 defines as the standard of special skill and care a trader may reasonably be expected to exercise towards consumers, commensurate with honest market practice or the general principle of good faith in the trader's field;
• such that it materially distorts, or is likely to distort, the economic behaviour of the average consumer it reaches or is addressed to;
• misleading, under sections 6 and 7;
• aggressive, under section 8.

Section 5(3) shifts the yardstick where a practice is likely to distort the behaviour only of a clearly identifiable group who are particularly vulnerable to it because of mental or physical infirmity, age or credulity, in a way the trader could reasonably foresee. There the practice is judged from the perspective of the average member of that group. A proviso preserves the common and legitimate advertising practice of exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally.

Section 5(4) then points to Annex I, the list of practices considered unfair in all circumstances. Those need no analysis of the average consumer or of distortion: they are banned as such.

Misleading actions

Section 6(1) catches a practice that contains false information and is therefore untruthful, or that in any way, including its overall presentation, deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer, even where the information is factually correct, and in either case leads or is likely to lead the consumer to a transactional decision they would not otherwise have taken. Accuracy is a defence to a charge of falsehood, not to a charge of deception.

Section 6(2) lists what the deception has to be about. Alongside the familiar entries, the existence or nature of the product, its main characteristics, availability, benefits, risks, composition, delivery, fitness, use, quantity, specification and geographical or commercial origin, the extent of the trader's commitments, the price or the manner in which it is calculated, the existence of a specific price advantage, and the need for a service, part, replacement or repair, the list now expressly covers environmental or social characteristics and aspects of circularity such as durability, reparability and recyclability, and after sales support and complaint handling.

Environmental claims, and why they are now the exposure

Those additions came with the amendments to the Law, including Law 122(I)/2026, and they are drafted with unusual precision. Section 4 defines an environmental claim as a message or representation, not mandatory under Union or national law, in any form, including text, images, graphics or symbols such as labels, brand names, company names or product names, in a commercial communication, which states or implies that a product, a product category, a trade mark or a trader has a positive or zero impact on the environment, or is less damaging than others, or has improved its impact over time.

A generic environmental claim is one, written or spoken, not contained in a sustainability label, whose specifications are not provided in clear and intelligible terms on the same medium. A sustainability label is a voluntary trust, quality or equivalent mark, public or private, distinguishing a product, process or business by environmental or social characteristics, and excluding any mandatory label required by law.

A certification scheme is defined by four conditions, all of which must hold: it is open on transparent, fair and non discriminatory terms to all traders willing and able to comply; its requirements are drawn up by the scheme owner in consultation with relevant experts and stakeholders; it sets procedures for dealing with non compliance and provides for withdrawal or suspension of the label; and monitoring of compliance is subject to an objective procedure carried out by a third party whose competence and independence, from both the scheme owner and the trader, rest on international, Union or national standards.

The practical consequence for a business marketing in Cyprus is that a green claim is now assessed against a definition rather than against a feeling. A badge with no scheme behind it that meets those four conditions, or a claim whose basis is not explained on the same page that makes it, is exposed.

Misleading omissions, and the invitation to purchase

Section 7(1) makes a practice misleading where, in its factual context and taking account of all its features and circumstances and the limitations of the medium, it omits material information the average consumer needs to take an informed transactional decision, and thereby causes or is likely to cause a decision they would not otherwise have taken.

Section 7(2) extends that to a trader who hides material information, or provides it in a manner that is unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely, or who fails to identify the commercial intent of the practice where that is not already apparent from the context. Undisclosed advertising is caught by that last limb.

Section 7(3) is the trader's answer to a small screen: where the medium imposes limitations of space or time, those limitations, and the measures the trader takes to make the information available by other means, are taken into account in deciding whether information has been omitted. It is a proportionality rule, not an exemption.

Section 7(4) then fixes what is material in an invitation to purchase, meaning a commercial communication that states the product's characteristics and its price in a way that enables the consumer to make a purchase. Unless already apparent from the context, the following are material: the main characteristics of the product to the extent appropriate to the medium and the product; the geographical address and identity of the trader, including trading name and, where applicable, of the trader on whose behalf they act; and the price inclusive of taxes, or where it cannot reasonably be calculated in advance the manner in which it is calculated, together with all additional freight, delivery or postal charges or, where those cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the fact that they may be payable.

Aggressive practices

Section 8(1) makes a practice aggressive where, in its factual context and taking account of all its features and circumstances, it uses harassment, coercion, including the use of physical force, or undue influence, and thereby significantly impairs or is likely to impair the average consumer's freedom of choice or conduct as to the product, so as to cause or be likely to cause a transactional decision they would not otherwise have taken.

Section 8(2) lists the factors to weigh, and three of them describe conduct businesses do not always recognise as aggressive:

• its timing, location, nature or persistence;
• the use of threatening or abusive language or behaviour;
• the trader's exploitation of any specific misfortune or circumstance which the trader knows of and which is so grave as to impair the consumer's judgement, in order to influence the decision on the product;
• any onerous or disproportionate non contractual barrier the trader imposes where the consumer wishes to exercise contractual rights, including the right to terminate or to switch to another product or another trader;
• any threat to take action that cannot legally be taken.

The fourth of those is the one that catches retention practices: a cancellation route deliberately harder than the sign up route is a candidate for section 8, independently of anything the contract says. The fifth catches the debt collection letter threatening a step the sender has no right to take.

What it costs

Enforcement sits with the competent Service, and the powers are administrative rather than criminal in the first instance. On a reasoned decision, and after hearing the alleged infringer or giving them the opportunity to be heard orally or in writing, the Service may impose an administrative fine according to the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement of up to five per cent of the infringer's turnover in the year immediately preceding the infringement. Where turnover information is not available, the fine may not exceed three million euro. For a body judged to have no turnover, five per cent of total assets is used instead.

Two further exposures follow. Where the infringement continues, a fine of up to five thousand euro for each day of continuation may be imposed according to its gravity. And the Service may order the infringer to pay an administrative charge covering the cost of purchase and of examining or testing the product or service or checking documents, regardless of the outcome of that examination, up to three thousand euro.

Questions we are asked

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and their application can change, and individual circumstances differ. For advice on your own matter, contact Klitos Platis at klitos@kleanthousplatis.com or telephone +357 22 680 330.

Klitos Platis

Advocate, Partner

Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 22 August 2026