Fair trading, trade descriptions and Trading Standards

Introduction

It makes good business sense to treat your customers well and trade fairly.

You need customers for your business to develop and become more profitable. If your customers trust you and appreciate the goods and services you sell, they will return - and also recommend you to others.

But there are also many laws to protect customers from being treated unfairly. If you breach them, the penalties can be high and can even result in you losing your business. The Trading Standards Institute (TSI), which enforces many of these regulations, can help you stay within the law.

Many existing consumer laws - including most of the Trade Descriptions Act -  have been replaced by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 since 26 May 2008. The new regulations ban traders in all sectors from engaging in unfair commercial (mainly marketing and selling) 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. The Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 has replaced the Trade Descriptions Act insofar as that Act protects businesses.

This guide provides an overview of fair trading and explains the law on describing products and services. It outlines the work of The Trading Standards Institute and advises on what you should do if a complaint is made against you.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Fair trading
• Describing your products and services
• Working with Trading Standards
• Complaints and what to do when things go wrong

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