At a glance
- Special laws become actionable via Section 3a UWG
- Cost limits for small businesses on formal breaches
- GDPR breaches can be pursued under the UWG
Via Section 3a UWG, breaches of numerous special laws become unfair competition. The breached provision must be intended, at least in part, to regulate market conduct in the interest of market participants, and the breach must be appreciable.
| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| e-commerce | withdrawal information, pre-contractual information, order button (Section 312j BGB), cancellation button (Section 312k BGB), legal notice (Section 5 DDG) |
| prices | total price, unit price, price reductions (PAngV) |
| health | Medicinal Products Advertising Act, medicines and medical device law, Health Claims Regulation, food information |
| labelling | textiles, energy labels, electrical and battery law, packaging law |
| professions | advertising rules for doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, tax advisers |
| gambling, minors | State Treaty on Gambling 2021, youth media protection |
| platforms, AI | DSA transparency duties, Art. 50 AI Act |
Data protection: The CJEU has held that competitors can pursue GDPR breaches via unfair competition claims (CJEU, 4 October 2024, C-21/23, Lindenapotheke); the BGH followed in March 2025.
Case examples
A retailer left its product ads to Google and only supplied product data; the energy efficiency class was missing. The BGH held the retailer liable for the ads as principal under § 8(2) UWG (11 March 2026, I ZR 28/25).
An online platform listed conditions for which cannabis therapy might be considered and arranged appointments with doctors. The BGH found unlawful public advertising of prescription drugs (26 March 2026, I ZR 74/25).
A pharmacist sold pharmacy-only drugs on Amazon and processed order data without explicit consent. Following the CJEU (4 Oct 2024, C-21/23), the BGH confirmed that competitors may pursue such GDPR breaches under the UWG (27 March 2025, I ZR 222/19).
Limits since 2020
For breaches of online information and labelling duties and of the GDPR by businesses with generally fewer than 250 employees, competitors cannot claim warning letter costs (Section 13(4) UWG). For a first warning for such breaches, businesses with fewer than 100 employees cannot be required to agree to a contractual penalty (Section 13a(2) UWG). The injunctive claim itself remains, and associations are not subject to these limits.
