Consumer Protection Act 1999 · Updated to 1 Nov 2021 · Part II · Misleading and Deceptive Conduct, False Representation and Unfair Practice
12. Misleading indication as to price
Feedback & supportA person commits an offence—
if he gives to a consumer an indication which is misleading as to the price at which any goods or services are available; or
if an indication given by him to a consumer as to the price at which any goods or services are available becomes misleading and he fails to take reasonable steps to prevent the consumer from relying on the indication.
For the purposes of subsection (1), it shall be immaterial—
whether the person who gives the indication is acting on his own behalf or on behalf of another;
whether or not the person who gives the indication is the person or included among the persons from whom the goods or services are available;
whether the indication is or becomes misleading in relation to all the consumers to whom it is given or only in relation to some of them.
For the purposes of this section, an indication given to a consumer is misleading as to a price or a method of determining a price if what is conveyed by the indication, or what the consumer may reasonably be expected to infer from the indication or any omission from it, includes any of the following:
consumer
“consumer” means a person who— (a) acquires or uses goods or services of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household purpose, use or consumption; and (b) does not acquire or use the goods or services, or hold himself out as acquiring or using the goods or services, primarily for the purpose of— (i) resupplying them in trade; (ii) consuming them in the course of a manufacturing process; or (iii) in the case of goods, repairing or treating, in trade, other goods or fixtures on land;
that the price or method is not what in fact it is;
that the applicability of the price or method does not depend on facts or circumstances on which it does in fact depend;
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that the price covers or the method takes into account matters in respect of which an additional charge is in fact made;
that a person who in fact has no such expectation, expects—
the price to be increased or reduced, whether or not at a particular time or by a particular amount;
the price, or the price as increased or reduced, as the case may be, to be maintained, whether or not for a particular period;
the method to be altered, whether or not at a particular time or in a particular respect; or
the method or the method as altered, as the case may be, to remain unaltered, whether or not for a particular period;
that the facts or circumstances by reference to which the consumer may reasonably be expected to judge the validity of any relevant comparison made or implied by the indication are not what they in fact are.
For the purposes of paragraph (3)(e), a comparison is a relevant comparison in relation to a price or a method of determining a price, as the case may be, if the comparison is made between that price or method or any price which has been or may be determined by that method, and—
price
“price” includes consideration in any form, whether direct or indirect, and includes any consideration that in effect relates to the acquisition or supply of goods or services although ostensibly relating to any other matter or thing;
any price or value that is stated or implied to be or to have been or to be likely to be attributed or attributable to the goods or services in question, or to any other goods or services; or
any method or other method that is stated or implied to be or to have been or to be likely to be applied or applicable for the determination of the price or value of the goods or services in question, or of the price or value of any other goods or services.
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