PChome Online Inc. & Auto Care Parts Co., Ltd.

Case:

Key Word(s):

False advertising, fuel-saving tablet

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of January 9, 2013 (the 1105th Commissioners' Meeting); Disposition Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 101199

Industry:

Retail Sale via Mail Order Houses or via Internet

Relevant Law(s):

Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

1. The FTC saw the online advertisement posted by PChome Online Inc. (hereinafter referred to as PChome Online) and Auto Care Parts Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Auto Care) on the PChome Shopping website for the "US-made AJ PII Vegetal Fuel-saving Tablets" claiming that "with the price of one liter of gasoline, your car can run an extra 30-100KM." False advertising was suspected and the FTC initiated an investigation.
2. Findings of the FTC after investigation:
   

   Auto Care presented test reports from the Refining and Manufacturing Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as the RMRI) of China Petroleum Corporation, the National Motor Vehicle Inspection Center (hereinafter referred to as the NMVIC) of China and the Automotive Research Association of India to support the claim in the advertisement. However, according to the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the test reports from the RMRI and the Automotive Research Association of India were unable to prove the claimed performance of the product in question. Although the test report from the NMVIC of China did indicate decrease in fuel consumption, the name of the product tested by the NMVIC of China was different from that of the product in question and Auto Care was unable to provide concrete evidence that the two products contained the same component. In other words, the claim in the advertisement did not have any support.

3. Grounds for disposition:
   

   Both PChome Online and Auto Care were unable to provide objective test reports or evidence to prove the representation in the said advertisement was true. Yet the advertisement could easily mislead people into believing that using the said product could have the fuel-saving performance as claimed in the advertisement and increase fuel mileage. The advertisement was a false, untrue and misleading representation in violation of Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law. Acting according to the first section of Article 41(1) of the same law, the FTC imposed an administrative fine of NT$80,000 on each of the two companies.

Appendix:
PChome Online Inc.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 16606102
Auto Care Parts Co., Ltd.s Uniform Invoice Number: 28328744

Summarized by: Yu, Yi-Fong; Supervised by: Yang, Hsiu-Yun