Does Check24 Compete with Insurers? ECJ Weighs In
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Online Insurance Rates Comparison: EU Court Upholds Check24 Decision - Online Judgment on Insurance Quotes Comparison: ECJ Sides with Check24
In a recent decision, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has shed light on a legal quandary surrounding Check24 and its relationship with insurance companies. The Munich I Regional Court posed the question of whether Check24’s insurance rate comparisons fell under the purview of comparative advertising, given its non-competitor status with insurers like Huk-Coburg.
The Regional Court initiated the inquiry following a dispute between Check24 and Huk-Coburg. While Check24 offers insurance rate comparisons based on various criteria, Huk-Coburg finds the assignment of grades to be an unlawful form of comparative advertising.
As per European Union (EU) law, comparative advertising can be permissible under specific stipulations. The Regional Court put forth the question of whether these conditions apply when comparing rates through a grading or scoring system.
In this unlikely scenario, the ECJ didn’t directly answer the question but moved one step back. Instead, it assessed whether an online comparison service, such as Check24, could be considered comparative advertising. To be labeled as such, the provider must be a competitor of the insurance company, as per the ECJ.
The Regional Court will be tasked with determining whether Check24 and Huk-Coburg share a competitive relationship. For that, they will need to figure out whether the offered services are interchangeable, signifying they operate in the same market.
After reviewing the case files, the ECJ ascertained that Check24 isn’t an insurance company. The website merely compares rates and facilitates agreements with the respective insurers. Consequently, it appears unlikely that Check24 and Huk-Coburg are competitors in the same service market.
On returning to decide the main lawsuit, the Munich court must consider the ECJ’s assessment.
- ECJ
- Check24
- Insurance Rate
- Comparison
- Luxembourg
- Munich I Regional Court
- EU
- European Court of Justice, Case C-388/19, Preliminary Ruling, 29th October 2020: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=223531&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=834703
- FindLaw, Comparative Advertising, https://law.findlaw.com/tort-law/comparative-advertising.html (visited March 22nd, 2023)
- European Commission, Guidelines on Comparative Advertising, https://ec.europa.eu/competition/consumers/index_en.html (visited March 22nd, 2023)
- According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), an online comparison service like Check24 may not be considered comparative advertising if the provider is not a competitor of the insurers, such as Huk-Coburg.
- The ECJ's ruling stated that Check24, which compares insurance rates and facilitates agreements with insurers, is unlikely to be operating in the same service market as an insurer like Huk-Coburg.
- As per EU law, the assessment of whether an online comparison service falls under the purview of comparative advertising depends on whether the provider and the insurer share a competitive relationship, with interchangeable services signifying that they operate in the same market.
- In the litigation between Check24 and Huk-Coburg, the Munich I Regional Court will now need to consider the ECJ's assessment in determining whether they indeed share a competitive relationship and whether Check24's insurance rate comparisons can be classified as comparative advertising.
