“The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has provisionally decided to refer the private motor insurance market to the Competition Commission after it found evidence that insurers compete in a ‘dysfunctional way’ that pushes up premiums by £225m a year.”
Daily Telegraph, 31st May 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A man who blamed his girlfriend’s five year old son for making loss-making trades in expensive natural resources through his online betting account is not bound by a term he agreed to on a website stating that he would be deemed to have authorised all trading made under his account number, the High Court has ruled.”
OUT-LAW.com, 29th May 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“Half a million patients a year may have unnecessarily paid to receive private dental treatment after receiving inaccurate information from their dentist about health service entitlements, an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) study found.”
Daily Telegraph, 29th May 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Payday loan companies have promised to improve the way they sell credit to borrowers under voluntary guidelines agreed with the government.”
The Guardian, 24th May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Payday loan company Wonga has been told by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) it must improve its debt collection practices, after it emerged it had sent letters to customers accusing them of committing fraud.”
The Guardian, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“In a bid to protect children from over-sexualised imagery, the government is to consult on whether music DVDs should have movie-style age ratings.”
BBC News, 9th May 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The UK’s intellectual property (IP) framework is one of the worst in the world in terms of serving the interests of the public, a new report has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 27th April 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“The LSB is today announcing proposals to deliver greater protection to consumers of the legal services of will-writing and estate administration. These would see the services brought within the scope of legal services regulation, regardless of who provides them.”
Full story (PDF)
Legal Services Board, 23rd April 2012
Source: www.legalservicesboard.org.uk
“Homeserve, fined £75,000 by Ofcom, is offering consumers compensation if it is the source of nuisance marketing calls.”
The Guardian, 21st April 2012
Source:www.guardian.co.uk
“All firms offering will writing and estate administration should be regulated to protect consumers from falling victim to fraudsters and cowboy companies offering badly drafted documents, according to latest research.”
The Guardian, 23rd April 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A regulator has warned businesses to avoid using ‘misleading or undesirable’ trading names.”
BBC News, 20th April 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Home insurance and repairs company HomeServe has been fined £750,000 by the telecoms regulator for making an excessive number of silent and abandoned calls.”
The Guardian, 19th April 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Office of Fair Trading has more than halved a £121.5m fine levied against British Airways for colluding with Virgin Atlantic in a fuel surcharge scam. The consumer watchdog reduced the fine to £58.5m to reflect new guidelines for financial sanctions and BA’s co-operation with the inquiry. Virgin Atlantic escaped any penalty because it blew the whistle on the collusion over setting fuel surcharges between 2004 and 2006.”
The Guardian, 19th April 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Third-party companies will not be able to access data recorded in consumers’ smart meters unless consumers choose to let them see it, the Government has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 12th April 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“Energy companies guilty of overcharging households will be forced to compensate consumers by a beefed-up industry watchdog under government proposals to be published this week.”
The Guardian, 9th April 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Companies cannot claim that the product they are advertising is ‘… as seen on TV ‘ or ‘… as seen in’ certain publications if those products merely featured as unbranded props in programmes or in paid-for ads in those mediums, an ad body has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 5th April 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“Consumers exploited by misleading and aggressive traders will have a clear and easy route to redress under reforms being proposed by the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission.”
Law Commission, 28th March 2012
Source: lawcommission.justice.gov.uk
Regina v Scottish and Southern Energy plc [2012] EWCA Crim 539; [2012] WLR (D) 89
“It was possible to prosecute more than one person or entity for the same alleged offence of engaging in a misleading commercial practice contrary to regulation 9 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.”
WLR Daily, 16th March 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“An Office of Fair Trading investigation has found Groupon guilty of ‘widespread’ breaches of consumer protection laws, relating to issues including the pricing, advertising and unfair terms attached to its daily deals.”
The Guardian, 16th March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Watchdog sets deadline for mobile operators to introduce maximum liability caps for phone contracts.”
The Guardian, 9th March 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2024