Regulations came into force on 26 May 2008 which introduce a
general duty on businesses to trade fairly and honestly.
What is considered Unfair Trading?
The regulations will ban traders in all sectors engaging in
unfair commercial practices against consumers. The regulations also
set out how commercial practices can be unfair by being misleading
(by action or omission) or aggressive, and list 31 specific
practices which are banned. Some examples of the outright bans
would be:• You're not who you say you are
• Describing a product as 'free' when there is a charge
• Scare tactics
• Falsely stating that a product will only be available for a
very limited time
What happens if I don't follow them?
If you don't comply with these regulations, your company may be
investigated by Trading Standards and other bodies. These lengthy
investigations could take up a lot of your business time, you could
also be prosecuted and fined and potentially lose your
customers.
What to do now?
The key document to your business dealings is your Terms &
Conditions. However, the new regulations are also relevant to all
your marketing literature and your website. It is important
to ensure that they, and your Ts & Cs in particular, do not
infringe the new rules. Our consultation meetings are
genuinely free(!) So please don't neglect it, and do give us a
call.