Ching Hua Eyeglasses Store violated the
Fair Trade Law for false and untrue advertising
Chinese Taipei
Case:
Ching Hua Eyeglasses Store violated the Fair Trade Law for false and
untrue advertising
Key words:
Glasses; promotion
Reference:
The Fair Trade Commission Decision of January 7, 1998 (the 323rd
Commission meeting); Disposition (86) Kung Chu Tzu No. 226
Industry:
Retail Industry(4020)
Relevant Laws:
Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law
Summary:
- During August 1997, Ching Hua Eyeglasses Store (Ching Hua) held a
"NT$1 for Eyeglasses" promotion. The complainant went to Ching Hua and found
that the NT$1 special offer only applied to frames that were bought along with much more
expensive lenses, or the other way around. So the complainant complained to the Fair Trade
Commission alleging that the sanctioned party had engaged in producing false information
in its advertisements.
- The investigation showed that the repondent in its advertisements for
the "NT$1 for Eyeglasses" stated that every other five days they would have
special offers on different items sold in the store, including saline solution, lenses,
frames, contact lenses, tinted lenses with various prescription strengths, etc. However,
the details of the promotion, such as "Lenses for NT$1 with purchase of frames at 20%
discount (limit 40 customers)", were only provided to customers once they were inside
the store. The respondent ran advertisements promoting its products with exceptionally low
prices, but when the customers wanted to enter into trade, they had to face additional
conditions and burdens. The act of the respondent has constituted a violation of Article
21(1) of the Fair Trade Law, which states that an enterprise shall not make, on goods or
in its advertisements relating thereto, any false, untrue or misleading presentation which
may likely cause confusion to or mistake by consumers on their price, quantity, quality,
content, manufacturing method, date of manufacturing, validity period, use method, purpose
of use, place of origin, manufacturer, place of manufacturing, processor, and place of
processing.
Summarized by Chen, Hisn-yi
Supervised by Wu Ts'ui-feng
Appendix:
Ching Hua Eyeglasses Store's Uniform Invoice Number: 51848606
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