Consumers sometimes purchase products or services and feel that the seller has not been completely honest during the transaction. They may, for instance, feel pressured into making a buying decision or after the purchase realise that they have not been given all the information about the product or service. Should this happen to us, we must remember that we have rights that specifically protect us against such trading practices.

To ensure that we always make an informed buying decision, consumer legislation specifically bans unfair and abusive trading practices. Such practices classify as unfair commercial practices because they deceive consumers into making a buying decision that otherwise they would not have made. A commercial practice is unfair if it is misleading or aggressive.

Misleading commercial practices are normally the result of false or omission of important information when the trader promotes products or services. The law identifies specific practices that are considered misleading and therefore banned.

These include fake free offers; prize promotions where there is no prize or consumers must make a payment to claim a prize; false claims that products can cure illnesses or disabilities; limited offers where the trader falsely states that a product will no longer be available to elicit an immediate buying decision; in case of cross-border purchases, giving the impression that after-sales service is available in another EU Member State when it is not; and also falsely creating the impression that a trader is not acting in the course of his trade but on behalf of a consumer.

Aggressive sales practices considered unfair

A commercial practice is also considered misleading if it is likely to deceive the average consumer, even if the information presented is correct. An average consumer is one who is considered to be reasonably well informed, observant and quite cautious. Not to be misleading, any information provided to consumers has to be clear, intelligible and unambiguous.

Aggressive sales practices are also considered unfair. Such practices impair consumers’ buying decisions through harassment or coercion. These type of practices include sales tactics that try to intimidate or coerce consumers and also practices that try to take advantage of consumers that can be foreseen as vulnerable because of mental or physical infirmity, age or credulity.

The Consumer Affairs Act provides a list of specific practices that are banned due to their aggressive nature. In this list one finds situations where the trader creates the impression that the consumer cannot leave the business premises until the sales contract is finalised, or the trader refuses to leave a consumer’s home after being requested to do so, or explicitly telling consumers that if they do not buy his job will be in jeopardy.

It is also prohibited to take a consumer to a remote location with no return transport. Even advertisements directly aimed at getting children to buy products or persuade adults to buy for them is considered an aggressive trading practice and hence prohibited.

Unfair commercial practices are banned in any business-to-consumer transaction irrespective of the product or service, or the circumstance of the transaction, being it face to face, via telephone, internet or mail.

Whenever consumers en-counter trading practices that are misleading or aggressive, these may be reported to the Office for Consumer Affairs within the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority by sending ane-mail to info@mccaa.org.mt or by calling 8007 4400.

Odette Vella is director, Information, Education and Research Directorate, Office for Consumer Affairs, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.

odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt