THE ESSENTIALITY OF A LARGE HAND LUGGAGE 371 transparent and unambiguous way33. The objective of these set of rules, as emphasised by the Authority, is to allow the customer to effectively compare the prices for the services of the various airlines. Furthermore, to implement an effective price comparison, it is necessary to guarantee a correct representation of the ticket price; specifically that the prices are clearly and fully indicated, from the first contact with the consumer, in order to make the final payment immediately and clearly perceptible. This is the only way to protect the consumer, who is free to make an informed choice, and at the same time to protect competition between undertakings. Therefore, it is a transparent communication both in the pre-contractual phase of an advertising nature and in the negotiation phase. Both at the European level34 and at the internal level, increasing importance is given to the transparency of information as a tool to compensate for the presumed asymmetry in the relationship between the company and the consumer35. The “transparency, therefore, as a guarantee of knowledge or concrete knowability of the terms of the contract or transaction concluded, and of certainty in the performance of the relative relationship”36. The aim is to provide consumers with sufficiently clear and complete information that enables 33 In this regard, the Court of Justice UE, C-487/12 18 September 2014, points 39, 40 and 41: “Having regard to those considerations, it must be held that the price to be paid for the carriage of air passengers’ checked-in baggage constitutes an optional price supplement, within the meaning of Article 23(1) of Regulation 1008/2008, given that such a service cannot be considered to be compulsory or necessary for the carriage of those passengers. By contrast, as regards baggage that is not checked in, namely hand baggage, it must be observed, in order to give a complete response to the referring court, that such baggage must be considered, in principle, as constituting a necessary aspect of the carriage of passengers and that its carriage cannot, therefore, be made subject to a price supplement, on condition that such hand baggage meets reasonable requirements in terms of its weight and dimensions, and complies with applicable security requirements. It is appropriate to have regard, as the Advocate General did at points 54 and 55 of his Opinion, to the differences that exist between the nature of the service of carrying checked-in baggage, on the one hand, and the service of carrying hand baggage, on the other hand. In that respect, when checked-in baggage is entrusted to the airline, the latter takes responsibility for processing and storing it, which is likely to lead to additional costs for the airline. That is not the case with the carriage of baggage that is not checked in, such as, in particular, personal items that a passenger keeps with him”. 34 Already in 1975, with the resolution of the EC Council of 14 April, we talk about a “preliminary EEC program for a consumer protection and information policy”, Official Journal of the EC, 25 April 1975, C92. 35 On consumer see R. Pardolesi, Clausole abusive (nei contratti con i consumatori): una direttiva abusata? (Unfair terms (in consumer contracts): an abused directive?), in Foro it., 1994, V, p. 137. On the subject of information asymmetry, see M. DE Poli, Asimmetrie informative e rapporti contrattuali (Information asymmetries and contractual relationships), Padova, 2002. 36 The words are from M. De Poli, La trasparenza delle operazioni bancarie secondo il Testo Unico: primi appunti (The transparency of banking operations according to the Testo Unico: first notes), in Riv. Dir. Civ., 1994, II, p. 523.
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