IMPORTANT CHANGE IN CONSUMER LAW
New regulations ban Unfair Commercial Practices.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, come into force on 26 May 2008 and introduced new rules for ‘business to consumer’ sales.
The Regulations implement the European wide 'Unfair Commercial Practices Directive' (2005/29/EC)
There is an outright ban on 31 specified unfair trade practices in the following areas:-
- Falsely claiming accreditation
- Price claims
- Product / Service information
- Promotional activities
- Competitions and prize draws
- Sales methods
- After sales service
Full list of banned trading practices.
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In addition the following practices are banned if they unfairly affect a consumer's buying decision:-
- Misleading Actions
- Misleading Omissions
- Pressure Selling (including aggressive selling)
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Finally there is a general ban on any other 'unfair commercial practice'.
This is intended to deal with any unfair trading practice that is not dealt with specifically by the Regulations.
Further Guidance
These new Regulations will affect any business that deals with consumers and we would encourage you to consult the attached guides produced by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT):-
Business Advice Booklet
Basic Guide to the Regulations (pdf file - 8 pages)
Interim Guide to the Regulations (pdf file - 88 pages)
Copy of the full (draft) Regulations
If you are a North Somerset Business and would like further advice on the changes please contact us or read / download a copy of our guidance document for a detailed explanation.
Link to Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
Legislation repealed
As a consequence of the introduction of these new Regulations, a significant amount of existing consumer protection legislation will be repealed, including:-
- Business Advertisements (Disclosure) Order 1977
- Part III of the Consumer Protection Act 1983
- Consumer Transactions (Restrictions on Statements) Order 1976
- Mock Auctions Act 1961
- Price Marking (Food & Drink Services) Order 2003
- Tourism (Sleeping Accommodation Price Display) Order 1977
- The majority of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968
Commercial practices which are in all circumstances considered unfair
(Schedule 1 to the Regulations).
- 1. Claiming to be a signatory to a code of conduct when the trader is not.
- 2. Displaying a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without having obtained the necessary
authorisation.
- 3. Claiming that a code of conduct has an endorsement from a public or other body which it
does not have.
- 4. Claiming that a trader (including his commercial practices) or a product has been approved,
endorsed or authorised by a public or private body when the trader, the commercial practices or
the product have not or making such a claim without complying with the terms of the approval,
endorsement or authorisation.
- 5. Making an invitation to purchase products at a specified price without disclosing the existence
of any reasonable grounds the trader may have for believing that he will not be able to offer for
supply, or to procure another trader to supply, those products or equivalent products at that price
for a period that is, and in quantities that are, reasonable having regard to the product, the scale of
advertising of the product and the price offered (bait advertising).
- 6. Making an invitation to purchase products at a specified price and then—
- (a) refusing to show the advertised item to consumers,
- (b) refusing to take orders for it or deliver it within a reasonable time, or
- (c) demonstrating a defective sample of it,
with the intention of promoting a different product (bait and switch).
- 7. Falsely stating that a product will only be available for a very limited time, or that it will only
be available on particular terms for a very limited time, in order to elicit an immediate decision
and deprive consumers of sufficient opportunity or time to make an informed choice.
- 8. Undertaking to provide after-sales service to consumers with whom the trader has
communicated prior to a transaction in a language which is not an official language of the EEA
State where the trader is located and then making such service available only in another language
without clearly disclosing this to the consumer before the consumer is committed to the
transaction.
- 9. Stating or otherwise creating the impression that a product can legally be sold when it cannot.
- 10. Presenting rights given to consumers in law as a distinctive feature of the trader’s offer.
- 11. Using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the
promotion without making that clear in the content or by images or sounds clearly identifiable by
the consumer (advertorial).
- 12. Making a materially inaccurate claim concerning the nature and extent of the risk to the
personal security of the consumer or his family if the consumer does not purchase the product.
- 13. Promoting a product similar to a product made by a particular manufacturer in such a
manner as deliberately to mislead the consumer into believing that the product is made by that
same manufacturer when it is not.
- 14. Establishing, operating or promoting a pyramid promotional scheme where a consumer gives
consideration for the opportunity to receive compensation that is derived primarily from the
introduction of other consumers into the scheme rather than from the sale or consumption of
products.
- 15. Claiming that the trader is about to cease trading or move premises when he is not.
- 16. Claiming that products are able to facilitate winning in games of chance.
- 17. Falsely claiming that a product is able to cure illnesses, dysfunction or malformations.
- 18. Passing on materially inaccurate information on market conditions or on the possibility of
finding the product with the intention of inducing the consumer to acquire the product at
conditions less favourable than normal market conditions.
- 19. Claiming in a commercial practice to offer a competition or prize promotion without
awarding the prizes described or a reasonable equivalent.
- 20. Describing a product as ‘gratis’, ‘free’, ‘without charge’ or similar if the consumer has to
pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding to the commercial practice and
collecting or paying for delivery of the item.
- 21. Including in marketing material an invoice or similar document seeking payment which
gives the consumer the impression that he has already ordered the marketed product when he has
not.
- 22. Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating
to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer.
- 23. Creating the false impression that after-sales service in relation to a product is available in an
EEA State other than the one in which the product is sold.
- 24. Creating the impression that the consumer cannot leave the premises until a contract is
formed.
- 25. Conducting personal visits to the consumer’s home ignoring the consumer’s request to leave
or not to return, except in circumstances and to the extent justified to enforce a contractual
obligation.
- 26. Making persistent and unwanted solicitations by telephone, fax, e-mail or other remote
media except in circumstances and to the extent justified to enforce a contractual obligation.
- 27. Requiring a consumer who wishes to claim on an insurance policy to produce documents
which could not reasonably be considered relevant as to whether the claim was valid, or failing
systematically to respond to pertinent correspondence, in order to dissuade a consumer from
exercising his contractual rights.
- 28. Including in an advertisement a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or
persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them.
- 29. Demanding immediate or deferred payment for or the return or safekeeping of products
supplied by the trader, but not solicited by the consumer, except where the product is a substitute
supplied in accordance with regulation 19(7) of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling)
Regulations 2000 (inertia selling).
- 30. Explicitly informing a consumer that if he does not buy the product or service, the trader’s
job or livelihood will be in jeopardy.
- 31. Creating the false impression that the consumer has already won, will win, or will on doing a
particular act win, a prize or other equivalent benefit, when in fact either—
- (a) there is no prize or other equivalent benefit, or
- (b) taking any action in relation to claiming the prize or other equivalent benefit is subject to
the consumer paying money or incurring a cost.
North Somerset Council Trading Standards
