Fair trading
Fair trading covers a wide area of consumer protection law such
as:
- The Trade Descriptions Act
- Property Misdescriptions Act
- Consumer Credit Act
- other Acts of Parliament
The primary purpose of this type of legislation is to ensure
'truthfulness of trade' thus preventing consumers being misled
during contractual negotiations for goods and services.
Trade Descriptions Act 1968
The Act ensures that descriptions applied to goods and services
are accurate and has been used successfully to fight common
problems such as car 'clocking' and product counterfeiting. Its
scope is very wide and also covers descriptions applied in all
areas of trade.
Property Misdescriptions Act 1991
This Act is designed to regulate estate agents or property
developers from falsely describing or making misleading statements
in relation to land. This includes falsely describing the address
and location of a property, room sizes, easements and maintenance
charges.
Consumer Credit Act 1974
This Act is designed to regulate those businesses or individuals
who offer credit facilities to consumers so that there is 'truth in
lending' and covers areas such as advertising, loans, mortgages and
other credit transactions.
Our aims
We aim to ensure that:
- credit is fairly provided
- goods, services and property are not misdescribed
- holidays and timeshare accommodation are not
misrepresented
- prices are correctly displayed and do not mislead
- traders do not sell counterfeit goods
- steps are taken to end unfair trading practices
- terms in consumer contracts are fair
Further information
Fair trading advice from Trading Standards
Further information is available from the Office of Fair Trading website. The
website has two purposes:
- to protect consumers and explain their rights
- to ensure that businesses compete and operate fairly.
You can find essential information for businesses on how to
comply with legislation enforced by the Office of Fair Trading,
check advice on consumer issues, follow the progress of
investigations and action taken, or simply download the leaflets
and reports.
You can also find out more about Tower Hamlets and trading
standards at the Trading
Standards website.
Consumer Direct
Consumer Direct is a telephone and online advice and information
service for consumers in Great Britain, supported by the Department
of Trade and Industry. It provides clear, practical, impartial
advice to help consumers sort out problems and disagreements they
may be having with suppliers of goods or services.
Visit the Consumer Direct
website
Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI)
Provides full text of Acts of Parliament from 1988, plus access
to Info route, the Government's Information Asset Register.
Visit the OPSI website
How to contact us
For information contact:
Mulberry Place (AH)
PO Box 55739
5 Clove Crescent
E14 1BY
E-mail: mailto:tradingstandards@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Tel: 020 7364 5008
Fax: 020 7364 6935