The Federal cartel office in the case of Internet comparison sites, in many cases, for possible consumer law violations encountered. “Consumers can’t always rely on it to actually find the best offer on a comparison site”, said cartel office President Andreas Mundt on Wednesday at the presentation of the results. Consumers would often not informed of how the order of the search results and the recommendations of the comparison portals in the Individual. “There is a lack of transparency,” complained Mundt.

The cartel office had taken 36 comparison portals for the sectors of travel, energy, insurance, telecommunications, and Finance more closely. “A lot of comparison information is accurate and reliable,” said Mundt. In many cases, according to the report, but also behaviors that can lead consumers astray. So as to affect the Portal default presentation of the search results had, for example, by the providers of paid fees or commissions.

In some industries would have the comparison portals have a low coverage of the market and were part of only a selection of less than 50 percent of the market, existing offers. Numerous portals created is not a standalone comparison, but accessible only to the records or rate calculator other portals. The affected portals can now take the results of the investigation. In the coming year, the Federal cartel office intends to publish the final report.