The EU Court of Justice rules the prohibition on selling at a loss laid down by Spanish legislation relating to retail commerce contrary to EU law (Europamur Alimentación)

In the context of a preliminary ruling, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) concluded, through judgement of 19 October 2017 (Case C-295/16, Europamur Alimentación, S.A.), that the prohibition on selling at a loss (or sale at a loss) stated in Article 14 of Law 7/1996, regulating retail commerce (“LOCM”) is contrary to EU law, and particularly, contrary to Directive 2005/29, of 1 May 2005 (“the Directive”) concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market. I. The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling The preliminary ruling was referred to the ECJ in the context of a dispute between Europamur Alimentación, S.A., and the Directorate General for Commerce and Consumer Protection of the Autonomous Community of