Cosminergy Hitech Developing Co., Ltd. made false advertisement of “Cosminergy Water Treatment” and violated the Fair Trade Law

Chinese Taipei

Case:

Key Words:

80 Hertz, healthy water, exaggerated and false

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of December 29, 2005 (the 738th Commissioners’ Meeting); Disposition Kung Ch’u Tzu No. 094140

Industry:

Retail Sale of Household Appliance (4641)

Relevant Laws:

Article 21 Paragraph 1 of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

1. This case originated from a flier submitted by the public and transferred to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) from the Department of Health. Cosminergy Company has printed and distributed the said flier of “Cosminergy Water Treatment”. The Department of Health expressed that the product mentioned in the flier was not medical device defined in the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law. However, the said flier has alleged that “water that has been filtered through “wave energy” is actually molecular water of about 80 Hertz”; “the PH balance of “wave energy” active water is around 7.4, the closet to human blood” and “regardless of in terms of immunity, heart, liver, skin and blood pressure assessments, the wave energy active water is a healthy and the most suitable drinking water for human body”. The alleged experimental values did not have any medical theory or clinical trial basis, and was exaggerated and false.
2. The FTC mailed and requested Cosminergy Company to give reply and provide the relevant evidences. Then, the examination report for water sample completed by the relevant inspection unit and provided by the Company were submitted to the Department of Health for its expert opinions and verification of whether the aforementioned evidences were exaggerated and false or whether there were any circumstances of misleading. The opinions of the Department of Health were briefly stated as; (1) it is unable to verify the statements “water that has been filtered through “wave energy” is actually molecular water of about 80 Hertz” and “it is the easiest for human body to assimilate water cluster of 80 Hertz frequency” in the advertisement because the nuclear magnetic resonance testing report provided by Cosminergy Company were not complete and there were no comparison data (the values before water filtering); (2) although the advertisement alleged that “regardless of in terms of immunity, heart, liver, skin and blood pressure assessments, the wave energy active water is a healthy and the most suitable drinking water for human body”, but the test list of Japanese Life Field Research Institute provided by Cosminergy Company did not explain the testing method in detail, the meaning of each value, comparison values and evidence of “the most suitable for human drinking”. Therefore, there is no basis for conclusion.
3. Grounds of Disposition:
   1. Cosminergy Company indicated in the “Cosminergy Water Treatment” advertisement that “water that has been filtered through “wave energy” is actually molecular water of about 80 Hertz”; “it is the easiest for human body to assimilate water cluster of 80 Hertz frequency” and “regardless of in terms of immunity, heart, liver, skin and blood pressure assessments, the wave energy active water is a healthy and the most suitable drinking water for human body”, but the aforementioned statements were made without medical theory or clinical trial basis. Therefore, such conduct has violated the provision of Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the Fair Trade Law.
   2. Taken into consideration the motivation, purpose and expected improper benefit of the unlawful acts of Cosminergy Company; the degree and duration of the act’s harm to market order; benefits derived on account of the unlawful act; scale, operating condition, sales volume and market position of the enterprise; whether or not the type of unlawful act involved in the violation has been the subject of correction or warning by the Central Competent Authority; types of, number of, and intervening time between past violations, and the punishment for such violations; remorse shown for the act and attitude of cooperation in the investigation, and other factors, therefore, Cosminetgy Company is ordered to cease the unlawful acts and a fine of NT$ 80,000 is imposed according to the anterior paragraph of Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law.

Summarized by Wu, Hung-Guan;
Supervised by Hsu, Hung-Jen

Appendix:
Cosminergy Hitech Developing Co., Ltd.’s Uniform Invoice Number: 70450823