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International Masters Publishing gives undertakings to the OFT

119/06    26 July 2006

International Masters Publishing (IMP) has given undertakings to the OFT following a number of complaints received regarding its trading practices.
 
IMP is involved in the direct marketing of computer literature, cookery cards and recipes, music CDs and other related products. The company operates a number of promotions via direct marketing including titles such as At Home With Your PC, Discovering Wildlife and Classic Composers.
 
OFT received a wide range of complaints about IMP relating to inertia selling, misleading advertising, unfair contract terms and the debt collection practices of the company. The OFT considered that the complaints raised issues under the consumer protection legislation that it enforces. To address these issues, IMP has given a number of undertakings, relating to:

• debt collection practices, particularly non-compliance with OFT's guidance
• sending and then billing consumers for goods they have not ordered
• failing to give consumers full and clear information about products and the terms of the contract
• giving the impression that goods are free when they are not
• giving the impression that the consumer is free to cancel and not receive further goods when that is not the case. 

Christine Wade, Director of Consumer Regulation Enforcement said:
 
'We are pleased that IMP has supplied undertakings that address the complaints we have been receiving from consumers. The OFT or Trading Standards can take action in future if necessary to ensure that IMP adhere to these.'

NOTES

1. International Masters Publishers Ltd registered office is: Accurist House, 44 Baker Street, London, W1U 7AR.

2. The OFT Sought undertakings under both The Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Enterprise Act 2002.

3. The Consumer Credit Act requires most businesses that offer goods or services on credit or lend money, or are involved in activities relating to credit or hire, to be licensed by the OFT. The OFT can refuse or revoke a licence if it decides that a trader is not fit to hold one. A failure to comply with OFT's debt collection guidance, issued in July 2003, would call into question licence fitness.

4. The Enterprise Act 2002 improves consumer protection by giving enforcers strengthened powers to obtain court orders against traders that breach a range of consumer legislation in a way that harms the collective interests of UK consumers; covering activities such as misleading advertising, misleading price indications, lotteries, sale of goods and services, underage sales, estate agency, misleading health claims, trader descriptions, mock auctions, timeshare, unfair terms in consumer contracts, doorstep selling, distance selling, package travel and consumer credit.

5. The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, commonly referred to as the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs), came into force on 31 October 2000 (amended with effect from 6 April 2005 by The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) (Amendment) Regulations 2005). The DSRs give additional rights to consumers in the area of home shopping (where transactions take place under an organised scheme for distance selling run by the supplier with no face to face contact up to and including the moment at which the contract is concluded, such as online sales, mail order and telesales). Under the DSRs consumers have specific rights including rights to: clear information, a cancellation period and further protection against fraudulent use of payment cards.

6. The Control of Misleading Advertisement Regulations (CMARs) 1988 largely implement EU Directives on misleading and comparative advertising. They aim to protect consumers and  businesses from misleading advertisements and advertisements that make prohibited comparisons. The OFT's main role under the CMARs is to support and reinforce the existing advertising controls exercised by other bodies, not replace them. The OFT will step in where it is in the public interest that an advertisement should be stopped and future misleading advertisements prevented by means of a court injunction against those concerned, or by the threat of it.

7. The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 apply to standard contract terms used with consumers. The UTCCRs protect consumers against unfair standard terms in contracts they make with traders. The OFT, and certain other bodies, can take legal action to prevent the use of potentially unfair terms. A term is likely to be considered unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights  and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of consumers. The regulations say that a consumer is not bound by a standard term in a contract with a trader if that term is unfair. Ultimately, only a court can decide whether a term is unfair.

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