Chiwe Industrial Co., Ltd.

Case:

Key Words:

untrue advertisement, laundry ball

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of December 2, 2009 (the 943rd Commissioners' Meeting), Disposition Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 098167

Industry:

Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses (4871)

Relevant Laws:

Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

1. The FTC contracted an outside organization during June 2009 to conduct the "supervision of violating advertisement on national television, radio stations, and Internet." Chiwe Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Chiwe) was found to have engaged in untrue online advertisement regarding its "Magical Environmental Protection and Efficient Laundry Balls" by claiming that "without water to clean…cleaning electrical stone uses micron technology of water molecules to naturally kill germs, clean, and bleach" and that "it kills 99.9% of germs."

2. Findings of the FTC after investigation: Chiwe claimed that the aforementioned advertisement was to explain that the product in question had the effects to kill germs, clean, and bleach. Chiwe also submitted three testing reports issued by SGS Taiwan Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as SGS). However, according to the professional opinions by SGS and the Bureau of Standards, Metrology & Inspection of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, these testing reports were about migratable fluorescent substances, pH, and antibacterial effect of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538. These reports are not about the effects of the product in question at all and therefore cannot be used to prove whether the product in question can clean or bleach. In addition, these antibacterial testing reports were made for Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, the antimicrobial rate of which is 94.4%, and not for all bacteria. Consequently, the statement of "killing 99.9% of germs" as claimed in the advertisement is inconsistent with the report result. The FTC therefore ordered Chiwe to immediately cease the aforesaid unlawful act and imposed an administrative fine of NT$80,000.

Appendix:
Chiwe Industrial Co.,Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 16411465

Summarized by Yu,Yi-Fong; Supervised by Chen,Chun-Ting