Misleading Advertisements

The legislation governing misleading advertisements can be found in the Consumer Protection (Trade Descriptions) Act 1970 (“the 1970 Act”) and in the Consumer Protection Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”).

The 1970 Act makes it a criminal offence to falsely describe goods or services in the course of a trade or business. Not all false descriptions will be found to be criminal under this legislation as the enforcement authority must show that there was some intent to mislead or that the advertiser failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent the occurrence. It is also important to remember that a private individual misdescribing his own personal possessions in the course of a private sale cannot be prosecuted under this statute but a subsequent purchaser may be able to sue him for compensation in the civil courts.

The most common breach of the 1970 Act has been in connection with the motor trade where either the age or the mileage travelled by vehicles has been falsely described and heavy fines have resulted in many cases. In the service industries prosecutions have been taken against a variety of providers such as hotels for falsely describing their facilities and against building firms for misdescribing their qualifications or the work they had carried out. The false description of prices for both goods and services is a regular source of complaint and considerable effort goes into monitoring likely sources of complaint. The Office of Fair Trading has endorsed a code of practice for the indication of prices which is intended to provide business with guidance on how to avoid misleading prices. Copies of the code are available from the Office.

It is also worth pointing out that even if a business misdescribes the price at which goods or services are available for sale, they are under no obligation to supply you with those goods or services at the advertised price.

The 1991 Act provides a further means of addressing the issue of misleading advertisements, which although they may not be false (in the criminal sense) could mislead any person or damage a competitor. The Office of Fair Trading encourages self regulatory systems (such as the Advertising Standards Authority) to deal with complaints of this nature but where such systems fail to resolve the issue the Office is provided with additional powers. Where the Office considers that any advertisement is misleading and that it is in the public interest to prevent the continued display or publication of the advertisement, it may apply to the High Court for an injunction.