Fair Trading
In order to ensure a fair trading environment prevails for both traders and consumers, inspections are carried out at all business premises in the borough.These involve checking prices and descriptions of goods to ensure they are not misleading.
The types of descriptions we check include
- Sterling silver, eg at jewellers
- Car mileages, eg at garages
- Welsh beef, eg at butchers
- Reconditioned, eg second hand TV’s etc
- Leather eg three-piece suites
- Double-glazed eg Estate Agents descriptions
- Travel Agents Brochure descriptions
The law states that consumers must be able to determine the price of goods without assistance. Compliance with this requirement is checked during inspections, as well as ensuring price indications are not misleading in any way. The Dti has published guidance which can be found using the links on the right hand side.
We also investigate complaints relating to service providers if they have falsely described their service or charged for work they haven’t carried out. We may for example investigate a builder for charging for a damp proof coarse they haven’t installed, or an accountant for making false claims in relation to qualifications held.
Another area of investigation includes instances of business fraud involving and individuals deception. We investigate businesses that deliberately mislead and deceive consumers and generally operate unfair business practices.
Tests are carried out on weighing and measuring equipment to ensure consumers get what they pay for and this is explained in more detail on the weights and measures page.
We work with Gwent Police, HM Revenue & Customs, the Benefits Agency and the Inland Revenue with the aim of reducing crime, tax evasion and fraud in order to provide a level playing field for all.
2008 saw fundamental changes to Consumer protection laws in the UK and throughout Europe. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, came into force, and in doing so, replaced a number of old familiar laws covering things like trade descriptions and misleading prices.
The new approach was meant to be more flexible and wider ranging, and as such, it applies across all business sectors. In being more general, the idea is to plug gaps in existing legislation.
The regulations do a number of things:
1. Make it a legal duty for businesses not to treat customers unfairly;
2. Make it illegal for businesses to mislead customers, either through a particular act, or an omission [leaving something out, or failing to mention something];
3. Make it illegal to operate aggressive practices [like pressure selling]
4. Lists 31 specific business practices which are legally banned. These include things like:
a) Bogus “closing down” sales;
b) Misleading prize draws;
c) Businesses masquerading as private individuals;
The scope of the new law is incredibly wide – but businesses who are honest & fair with their customers probably won’t need to change they way they work at all. Given time, it is hoped that the law will have a positive effect on honest businesses, by clamping down on a wider range of unfair practices – thus preventing unfair competition.
Alongside the consumer protection regulations, there are also new rules to protect business. The Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 does 2 main things:
- Bans advertising which misleads traders;
- Restricts comparative advertising.
The job of enforcing both these Regulations rests with the council’s Trading Standards service at a local level.
Consumers in Blaenau Gwent requiring advice or information should initially contact Consumer Direct Wales on 08454 040506, whilst businesses who need advice/information should contact Trading Standards on 01495 356138.
A government guidance booklet on the consumer protection regulations can be downloaded from the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform link in the Related Links panel above.
