Mr. Weng

1294th Commissioners' Meeting (2016)

Case:

Mr. Weng violated the Fair Trade Law by posting false advertising for the plantation of Half Acre Field Construction II

Keyword(s):

Half Acre Field, false advertising, illegal use of farmland
Reference:
Fair Trade Commission Decision of August 24, 2016 (the 1294th Commissioners' Meeting); Disposition Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 105090

Industry:

Real Estate Activities for Sale and Rental with Owned or Leased Property (6811)

Relevant Law(s):

Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

  1. The FTC received complaints stating that the wording of "community-style management, with water, power, roads and Internet connection all in place, plus cabins, screen houses and Canadian-style information material room��., no more worries about home safety," "independent safe community planning," and "independent community access control" while pictures of wooden cabins and pavilions were posted by Mr. Weng to market the "Half Acre Field" plantation on 591.com.tw in 2014 probably was false advertising.
  2. Findings of the FTC after investigation:
    In general, the structures depicted in real estate advertisements and the usage of the land they are on can become an important factor for consumers to decide on whether they would make purchases. Normally, the perception of consumers is that they can use the properties in accordance with the usages specified in such advertisements. In other words, consumers have no way of knowing the usages described in the advertisements are actually in violation of related laws and regulations. Even if the object handed over by the advertiser is consistent with the content of the advertisements, there remains the risk that the buyer may be fined or the property may be torn down after the competent authority finds out it is illegal. In this case, the advertisement posted on the webpage showed the wording of "community-style management, with water, power, roads and Internet connection all in place, plus cabins, screen houses and Canadian-style information material room��., no more worries about home safety," "independent safe community planning," and "independent community access control." In addition, pictures of wooden cabins and pavilions were posted in the online advertisement. The overall impression it delivered to consumers was the structures could be used by buyers as homes. However, according to the Miaoli County Government, it had never approved the housing project and it constituted illegal use of farmland, including the gate, concrete roads, structures and pavilions, in violation of Paragraph 1 of Article 15 of the Regional Planning Act. In other words, the advertisement was a false and misleading representation and could affect consumers�� transaction decisions in violation of Paragraph 1 of Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law.
  3. After assessing the motive and purpose of Mt. Weng and the expected illegitimate profit from the unlawful act, the extent and duration of harm incurred to trading order, the profit obtained therefrom, the scale of business, management condition and market status, whether the illegal conduct had been corrected or admonished by the central competent authority, the types, number of times and intervals of past violations and the penalties imposed on the offender, the level of remorse of the offender and the degree of cooperativeness throughout the investigation, and other factors, the FTC cited the first section of Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law and imposed NT$300,000 on Mr. Weng.

Summarized by: Wang, Horng-Shiuan; Supervised by: Chang, Chan-Chi