Issue #0818/1 - Since last week’s TCPglobal article - "Mass merchandisers mislead customers over cartridge pricing", it has been announced that the UK now has a new law to protect consumers from the type of misleading claims highlighted in the article. This new suite of regulations is designed to place the UK in compliance with the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC) under which consumers receive the same degree of protection regardless of which EU member state they purchase goods in but could specifically affect printer manufacturers who use comparative advertising as part of their marketing strategy.
Under these new regulations, consumers are defined as those private customers making purchases outside of a business perspective while ‘unfair commercial practices’ include making misleading actions and misleading omissions. If an action or omission causes, or is likely to cause, a consumer to take a different course of action with regard to making a purchase, either before or after making the purchase, then that action falls foul of the law.
In the case of the two sets of misleading in-store labelling noted in the previous article, there is very clear evidence that the customer would be more than likely to take a different course of action as a result of the information that is being presented at the time – on the assumption that the consumer is not in possession of the truth at the time of viewing the labelling.
Most misleading claims of this nature are handled by the general ‘catch-all’ provisions regarding conduct and misleading practices.
However, there are 31 specific provisions and these include several that could have specific relevance to a mass merchandiser, or other reseller, offering printer consumables (or
- 5. Special Offer that is not in stock – offering goods for sale that are not likely to be available within a reasonable period of time
- 6. Limited time only offers – putting consumers under pressure to purchase within an unreasonably short time frame
- 13. Being honest about advertorials – not making it clear that the text or other content in the respective media has been paid for by the trader
- 14. Faking goods – making a third party product look so much like the product of a particular manufacturer that consumers are confused into believing the goods are originals (i.e. counterfeit cartridges and, potentially, third party cartridge refills or remanufactured products)
- 16. Pulling the wool over their eyes – “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”
As a generality where print cartridges are concerned, what this all amounts to is a level of protection that prevents traders from providing information that misleads or deceives customers into making a purchase decision that they would not otherwise have made.
Both Asda and WH Smith in the UK are in contravention of the law with regard to certain print cartridges. All resellers will need to increase their understanding of the market and supplies products and ensure that their information and market intelligence is accurate with regard to pricing in order to avoid infringing the regulations.
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