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Spanish government bans price hikes and profiteering in disaster situations
Consumer affairs

Spanish government bans price hikes and profiteering in disaster situations

Spain's ministry of consumer affairs has amended the law to prevent companies making more money from any situation that could be classified as a civil protection emergency

Raquel Merino

Malaga

Monday, 16 December 2024, 19:59

Cabinet ministers in Spain have approved a decree modifying the general law for the protection of consumers and users, with the aim of establishing that companies using automated price personalisation cannot raise them in situations that can be classified as a civil protection emergency, such as the Dana in Valencia and other provinces.

This refers to cases in which the price of a commercial offer cannot be fixed exactly due to the nature of the service or product. "These are cases in which prices end up being personalised in an automated way, as happens, for example, when booking rides on ride-hailing apps such as Uber, Cabify or Bolt or renting accommodation online," the minister for social rights, consumer affairs and the 2030 agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, explained.

In these cases, the regulatory change, which is specified in Article 20.1 of the revised text of the aforementioned law, establishes that there may not be increases in the final sale price in "contexts of emergency, risk or need of the consumer", as detailed in the text, referring to any situation that can be classified as a civil protection emergency, in the terms regulated in Law 17/2015, of 9 July, on the national civil protection system.

Article 2 of this law defines a civil protection emergency as "a situation of collective risk arising from an event that puts people or property in imminent danger and requires rapid management by the public authorities to deal with it and mitigate the damage, and try to prevent it from becoming a catastrophe. It corresponds to other denominations such as extraordinary emergency, as opposed to ordinary emergency, that does not have a collective effect".

Price of vehicles

Bustinduy also announced a new initiative concerning the pricing of motor vehicle sales under the restart auto+ plan, which was approved to provide financial aid to all individuals or entities needing to purchase any type of motor vehicle after losing theirs during the 'Dana' weather event.

The sales outlets that adhere to this programme will not be able to sell cars to the people affected at prices that are higher than those on 28 October, the day on which the flood took place. To do so, they will have to sign a declaration that they will not alter the prices that the vehicles offered in their establishment had prior to this date, in addition to completing a form available at the electronic platform of the ministry of industry and tourism.

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