EU Rules on Online Reviews: The Omnibus Directive and the DSA Explained

EU rules on online reviews come mainly from the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive as amended by the Omnibus Directive (EU) 2019/2161, which Member States have applied since 28 May 2022. Businesses that show reviews must explain whether and how they check that reviews come from real customers, and fake or misrepresented reviews are banned outright. The Digital Services Act adds notice-and-action duties for platforms that host reviews.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Both directives work through national law, so the exact wording and penalties differ by country; consult a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction about your own situation.

The legal framework at a glance

The text of Directive (EU) 2019/2161 was adopted on 27 November 2019. Under its Article 7, Member States had to adopt their national measures by 28 November 2021 and apply them from 28 May 2022.

Article 7(6): tell consumers how you check reviews

The directive added a new paragraph to Article 7 of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Where a trader provides access to consumer reviews of products, information about whether and how it ensures that published reviews come from consumers who actually used or purchased the product is regarded as material information. Leaving it out can make a practice misleading.

The European Commission's guidance on the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2021/C 526/01) reads this broadly. The information should cover not only checks on reviewers but how reviews are processed in general, including:

• whether all reviews are published;
• how reviews are sourced;
• how average scores are calculated;
• whether scores are influenced by sponsored reviews or contractual relations.

The guidance says the information must be clear and available from the same interface where reviews are published, for example through a clearly identified and prominently displayed link. It also applies when you show reviews collected by another business, such as a specialized review tool embedded in your website.

The blacklist, point 23b: unverified claims that reviews are genuine

Annex I of the directive lists practices that are unfair in all circumstances. Two points added in 2019 concern reviews.

It is prohibited to state that reviews are submitted by consumers who actually used or purchased the product without taking reasonable and proportionate steps to check that they originate from such consumers. The Commission's guidance notes that general labels such as customer reviews may already be understood that way by the average consumer.

What counts as reasonable depends on the business model, the scale of the activity and the level of risk; the guidance expects large platforms with a high fraud risk to do more than small traders. It lists examples of possible steps:

• requesting information such as a booking or order number;
• requiring reviewers to register;
• technical checks, for example email verification;
• clear rules that prohibit fake and undisclosed sponsored reviews;
• tools that automatically detect fraudulent activity;
• adequate resources to respond to complaints about suspicious reviews.

The guidance adds that checks should not make posting reviews so difficult that genuine customers are discouraged.

The blacklist, point 23c: fake and misrepresented reviews

It is prohibited to submit, or commission another person to submit, false consumer reviews or endorsements, or to misrepresent consumer reviews or social endorsements, in order to promote products. Recital 49 of the directive gives publishing only positive reviews and deleting negative ones as an example of manipulation. The Commission's guidance adds further examples:

• providing consumers with pre-filled positive review templates;
• engaging with consumers during moderation to incentivize them to change or withdraw negative reviews;
• presenting consolidated ratings based on undisclosed or opaque criteria.

According to the guidance, the endorsements part also covers fake followers, reactions and views. Removing fake negative reviews as part of genuine verification measures remains allowed. The same logic underpins US rules; compare our overview of the FTC rule on fake reviews and our article on review gating.

Who the rules apply to

The guidance explains that the directive applies to traders that make reviews available, including online platforms, and to any trader that organizes the supply of reviews for other traders. It does not apply to consumers who share their own experience, unless they act in the name of or on behalf of a trader.

The review provisions cover reviews of products and also reviews of a trader's performance when selling them, such as quality, reliability or speed of delivery. Reviews of matters outside the business-to-consumer relationship, such as employment conditions or social responsibility, would likely fall outside the directive, according to the guidance. Employer reviews are covered in our guide to responding to negative Glassdoor reviews.

Penalties and enforcement

Article 13, as replaced by Directive 2019/2161, requires penalties that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive. For coordinated cross-border enforcement under Regulation (EU) 2017/2394, Article 13 requires national law to allow a maximum fine of at least 4% of the trader's annual turnover in the Member States concerned, or at least EUR 2 million where turnover information is not available. A new Article 11a also gives harmed consumers access to remedies such as compensation, a price reduction or termination of the contract.

National consumer authorities enforce these rules. In January 2022, the European Commission published the results of an EU-wide sweep in which authorities of 26 Member States, Iceland and Norway checked 223 major websites; in 144 of them, authorities could not confirm that traders were doing enough to ensure reviews were authentic. The Commission said at least 55% of the checked websites potentially violated the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and that authorities would contact the traders concerned.

The Digital Services Act: reporting reviews on platforms

The Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) has applied in full since 17 February 2024. For businesses, its main relevance to reviews is the route for reporting content on platforms that host them.

1. Notice. Article 16 requires hosting services to offer an easy, electronic way for any individual or entity to report specific items they consider illegal content. A notice should include a substantiated explanation of why the content is illegal, the exact URL, your name and email address, and a statement that you believe the information is accurate and complete.
2. Decision. The provider must confirm receipt without undue delay where you gave contact details, and then tell you its decision and the possibilities for redress.
3. Complaint. Under Article 20, online platforms must offer an internal complaint-handling system against such decisions for at least six months after the decision.
4. Out-of-court settlement. Article 21 lets you take the dispute to a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body.

Two limits matter. First, illegal content means content that does not comply with EU law or the law of a Member State; a review that is merely negative is not illegal. Second, Article 23 requires platforms to suspend, after a warning, the processing of notices from anyone who frequently submits manifestly unfounded notices, so mass reporting can backfire. Platform-specific steps are covered in how to get a Google review removed and how to report a review on Trustpilot.

A brief note on the UK

The UK is outside the EU but has its own rules. Paragraph 13 of Schedule 20 to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, in force since 6 April 2025, bans submitting or commissioning fake reviews or reviews that conceal an incentive, publishing reviews in a misleading way, and publishing reviews without reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove fake ones. Its examples of misleading publication include removing negative reviews while publishing positive ones and giving positive reviews greater prominence.

Compliance checklist for businesses selling in the EU

1. List where you show reviews. Include product pages, apps, embedded review widgets and ads that quote ratings.
2. Publish a short review policy next to the reviews. Say whether and how you check reviewers, whether all reviews are published, how the average is calculated and whether any reviews were incentivized.
3. Use the word verified only when you verify. If you match reviews to orders or bookings, say so; if you do not, do not imply it.
4. Document neutral moderation rules. Remove content for stated reasons that apply to all reviews, not because a review is negative.
5. Drop risky collection habits. No pre-filled positive templates and no incentives to change or withdraw negative reviews.
6. Check vendor contracts. Agencies and review services must not supply fake reviews, followers or engagement.
7. Report precisely. When you notify a platform, name the specific legal or policy problem, keep copies and use the complaint routes if you disagree with the outcome.
8. Check national rules. Look up the national transposition and the guidance of the consumer authority in each country where you sell.