Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd.

Case:

Key Words:

catalog, security service, only

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of August 16, 2007 (the 823rd Commissioners' Meeting); Disposition Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 096132

Industry:

Security Systems Services (8002)

Relevant Laws:

Article 21(3) and, mutatis mutandis, 21(1) and 41 of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

1. This case was originated from the complaints filed by the general public and the complaint stated that: Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. advertised "the only domestic security system mainframe, exclusively for the use of a residence" and "collate the only emergency services program needed by a family," in the flyers of its "Family Security System" dated November 7, 2005 and March 28, 2006. Nevertheless, other domestic security enterprises which were in the same line of business of Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. also supply the same facilities and services. Therefore, the word, "only," published in the advertisement related to this case was untrue. In accordance with the business practice that an enterprise publishes specific words in an advertisement to represent or symbolize its product or service, such as the objective claims, "only," "a pioneer," "the first," or "the largest," there should be an objective basis.

2. Findings of FTC after investigation:

   1. It was found that the impression delivered by the publication of Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd.'s flyers of "Family Security System" dated November 7, 2005 and March 28, 2006 with the words, "the only domestic security system mainframe, exclusively for the use of a residence" and "collate the only emergency services program needed by a family," was that during the period of using this advertisement (from November 7, 2005 to December 21, 2006), the "Family Security System" service supplied by Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. was the "only" domestic family security system service in its line of business.
   2. It was found that there was a fact that one of the other domestic security systems service providers, Jih Sun Security Co., Ltd., had supplied residential security services since 1999. In addition, Taiwan Shin Kong Security Co., Ltd. had supplied family security services since April, 2004 and had had security system mainframes, exclusively for the uses of residences. Before the publication of this advertisement (November 7, 2005), the aforesaid two companies had indeed supplied family or residential security services, and these services were identical to the family security services supplied by Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. Therefore, the family security services and security system mainframes which were exclusively for the uses of residences, as supplied by Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd., were not the only domestic family security services and security system mainframes at the time of the advertisement; in the same way, Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. admitted that at the time of the advertisement, there was a record that other enterprises that were in the same line of the business of Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. also supplied the same or similar services.

   3.Grounds for disposition:

   1. While this "Family Security System" service was not the "only" domestic family security system service at the time of the publication of its flyers, Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. still published "the only domestic security system mainframe, exclusively for the use of a residence" and "collate the only emergency services program needed by a family" in its flyers. The representations made in the flyers were not consistent with the facts and were false, untrue and misleading. Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. violated Article 21(3) and, mutatis mutandis, Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law.
   2. After considering the motive of the unlawful acts of Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd., the degree of the unlawful acts' harm, the circumstances of the violation, the scale of business and the attitude after the investigation, Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd. was ordered to cease the aforesaid unlawful acts in accordance with the fore part of Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law, and it was imposed with an administrative fine of NT$ 300,000.

Appendix:
Taiwan Secom Co., Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 12148598

Summarized by Yu, Wei-jhen; supervised by Wu, Lich-ling