Complaint against Iou Liang International Co., Ltd. and Lien-Ch'i International Co., Ltd. of misleading advertising in violation of the Fair Trade Law

Chinese Taipei


Case:

Complaint against Iou Liang International Co., Ltd. and Lien-Ch'i International Co., Ltd. of misleading advertising in violation of the Fair Trade Law

Key Words:

weight loss, elimination of fat, slimming pants, television shopping

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of June 29, 2000 (the 451st Commissioners' Meeting); Disposition (89) Kung Chu Tzu No. 116

Industry:

Clothing Retail (5342)

Relevant Laws:

Article 21 and the forepart of Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

  1. A letter from the Department of Health pointed out that a Taoyuan-area television-shopping channel was broadcasting an advertisement such as the followings. "Suo Ti Hsuan Lin third-generation Shuang-mien Chiao-wa [fantasy sexy girl] slimming/shaping pants," "by converting fat into heat energy, fat is completely transmuted into water and carbon dioxide," and "only the 'Shuang-mien Chiao-wa' can effectively remove your fat." The letter stated that the advertisement claimed effectiveness in weight losing and fat removing, while in fact there was no medical theory or clinical evidence to support it.

  2. The Fair Trade Commission investigation found that Iou Liang International Co., Ltd. (Iou Liang) and Lien Ch'i International Co., Ltd (Lien Ch'i) upheld their partnership and marketed the said product. For promoting, they sold the product via television shopping since September 1999. They not only leased a television channel from a local cable company but also delegated agencies to television shopping operators in other areas. Concerning the words at issue applied at the advertisement, the two companies argued that they referred to theories of weight reduction or fat removal at beauty magazines, but they were unable to produce concrete experimental evidence or statistics to demonstrate that the product provided above-mentioned effects.

  3. In summary, the advertisement, published by Iou Liang and Lien Ch'i companies claiming that their product provided weight reduction and fat removal effects, was false and misleading representation in violation of Article 21 (1) of the Fair Trade Law. In view of the motivation and purpose of the companies, the degree of injury to the trading order and past infringement, the Commission, according to the forepart of Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law, ordered them to cease the representation at issue and respectively imposed the two companies a fine of NT$ 200,000.


Appendix:
Iou Liang International Co., Ltd.'s Unified Invoice Number: 97215631
Lien Ch'i International Co., Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 97315478


Summarized by Chou, Pai-Wei
Supervised by Wu, Ting-Hung


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