legal updates
Sunday, 20 May 2007
new rules on unfair commercial practices
As a result of recent EU legislation, new laws are to be introduced in the UK by the end of this year relating to unfair commercial practices.
Misleading and aggressive practices will be outlawed, including:
- advertising goods at a low price and not having a reasonable level of stock to cover the likely demand;
- claiming that a business is about to cease trading or move premises when it is not; falsely creating the impression of free offers – for example, a mail order catalogue offering a pair of “free” sunglasses which can only be claimed if another order is placed with the catalogue;
- sellers falsely representing themselves as consumers; and
- using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a retailer has paid for the promotion without making that clear in the content.
In addition to combating misleading marketing ploys which have become familiar over the years, this will have a material impact on traders who choose more covert means of misleading consumers. In recent years, a common ruse has been to pose as customers online and submit positive comments about products and suppliers.
Under the new legislation, it will be offside for a hotel owner or an author to submit an entry complimenting their hotel or book on a website whilst purporting to be a customer. Businesses should ensure that their practices will not fall foul of the new rules, or they will run the risk of investigation by the Office of Fair Trading and ultimately civil and criminal penalties.