Should the objectives of the rules on unfair competition be te protection of competitors, or consumers, or of other interests? How should any conflict between these objectives be resolved?

The European Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices of May 11, 2005 regulates exclusively unfair commercial practices which are directly related to influencing a transactional decision of end-consumers and excludes all practices that are neither directed to end-consumers, nor directly influencing a transactional decision of consumers. Misleading advertising, for instance, is now judged on the basis of two different sets of regulation: the new Directive 2005/29/EC deals with "B2C"-advertising, while "B2B"-advertising has to comply with Directive 84/450/EEC. This international report, based upon contributions from eleven countries, is devoted to the question whether there are a priori two different standards for assessing unfair commercial practices. Is there one standard for consumers and another one for competitors? On the other hand, are the interests of all market participants too intertwined to allow different standards of fairness? More generally: Should the rules on unfair competition focus on the act as such - which, of course, must be seen against the background of alle circumstances, especially the target group - or should they focus primarily on the protection of the end-consumer or of competitors?