“I want to publish customer reviews”
Can I publish customer reviews on my website
Answer
Yes, but
Yes, but if you make product reviews available to consumers, § 11(6)(a) of Act 108/2024 Coll. makes it material information whether and how you ensure that the reviews come from consumers who actually bought or used the product.
Allowed only if you meet the conditions; miss one and it becomes unlawful.
From the point of view of the consumer protection act, reviews are information on which a purchasing decision is based. They are therefore not treated as decoration on a website, but as content where the source matters.
The duty under § 11(6)(a) is not a duty to verify reviews. It is a duty to say whether you verify them and how. The difference is fundamental: a trader who verifies nothing and says so complies with the provision, while a trader who verifies thoroughly and stays silent does not.
The conditions the answer rests on
- 01
The information about verification belongs with the reviews
§ 11(6)(a) applies where a trader gives consumers access to product reviews. It is then material information whether and how the trader ensures they originate from actual purchasers.
- 02
You may also say that you do not verify
The provision speaks of information about whether and how the trader ensures verification. A truthful statement that anyone can write a review satisfies the duty; silence does not.
- 03
A fabricated review is a different matter from missing information
Publishing a review that no customer wrote falls under § 10(1) as a commercial practice containing false information capable of affecting the average consumer's transactional decision.
- 04
The selection of reviews carries information too
If you publish only part of the reviews, that says something about the product which may not match reality. § 10(1) also reaches a practice that misleads in any way, even where the individual piece of information is factually correct.
Where we will not answer for you
§ 11(6)(a) says that the information about verification is material; it does not say which method of verification is sufficient, nor how exactly the information has to be worded. Nor does it determine when a selection of published reviews is still acceptable and when it already misleads under § 10(1). The specific assessment depends on what the website claims as a whole.
How to do it in practice
One sentence next to the reviews
The duty under § 11(6)(a) is met by a short explanation next to the list of reviews saying who may write one and whether the purchase is verified. It is not a document or a separate page.
Verification tied to the order
Where a review can only be written from a link in the order confirmation, verification is part of the process rather than separate work. It still has to be described, because the provision asks for information about the method.
Publish the unflattering ones too
A complete list of reviews does not raise the question of selection. It is also more credible than a site where every product has five stars.
What the statute says
Wording taken from the official register. Every excerpt is machine-compared against the statutes in our database, so it cannot drift from what the law actually says.
tom, či a akým spôsobom obchodník zabezpečuje, že hodnotenia produktov pochádzajú od spotrebiteľov, ktorí produkt skutočne kúpili alebo použili, ak obchodník poskytuje spotrebiteľom prístup k hodnoteniu produktovKlamlivé konanie je obchodná praktika, ktorá zapríčiňuje alebo môže zapríčiniť, že priemerný spotrebiteľ urobí rozhodnutie o obchodnej transakcii, ktoré by inak neurobil, pretože obsahuje nesprávne informácie a je preto nepravdivá, alebo akýmkoľvek spôsobom uvádza do omylu alebo môže uviesť do omylu priemerného spotrebiteľaFrequently asked questions
Do I have to verify reviews?
§ 11(6)(a) requires you to inform whether and how you ensure verification, not to verify. Truthful information that the purchase is not verified satisfies the duty.
Can I delete a negative review?
If you publish a selection of reviews, that says something about the product which may not be true, and § 10(1) also reaches a practice that misleads in any way. Assessing a particular case depends on what the website claims about its reviews.
Can I give a customer a discount for a review?
The wording of § 11(6)(a) concerns the origin of reviews from actual purchasers, not a reward for writing them. This question is assessed by whether the resulting presentation misleads the consumer under § 10(1), and answering it in a specific matter is a legal service.