Fair trading, trade descriptions and Trading Standards

Introduction

It makes good business sense to treat your customers well and trade fairly. There are also many laws to protect customers from being treated unfairly.

The penalties for breaching those laws can be severe and can even result in you losing your business. The Trading Standards Service (TSS), which enforces many of these regulations, can help you stay within the law.

Many consumer laws - including most of the Trade Descriptions Act - were replaced by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Business Protection Misleading Regulations 2008. These regulations ban traders in all sectors from engaging in unfair commercial practices against consumers.

Under these regulations, carrying out commercial practices such as marketing and selling that are misleading (by action or omission) or aggressive can be adjudged unfair. The regulations list various specific practices which are banned.

This guide provides an overview of fair trading and explains the law on describing products and services. It outlines the work of the TSS 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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