Fair trading - trading standards

Fair trading covers a wide area of consumer protection law suchas the Trade Descriptions Act, Property Misdescriptions Act, Consumer Credit Act and many more Acts of Parliament besides. The primary purpose of this type of legislation is to ensure 'truthfulness oftrade' thus preventing consumers being misled during contractual negotiations for goods and services.

Trade Descriptions Act 1968

The Act ensures that descriptions applied to goods and services are accurate and has been used successfully to combat common problems such as car 'clocking' and product counterfeiting. Its scope is very wideand also covers descriptions applied in all areas of trade.

Property Misdescriptions Act 1991

This Act is designed to regulate those persons in the course of estate agency or property development business who falsely describe ormake misleading statements in relation to land. This includes amongstother things descriptions in relation the address and location of aproperty, room sizes, easements and maintenance charges.

Consumer Credit Act 1974

This Act is designed to regulate those businesses or individuals whooffer credit facilities to consumers so that there is 'truth inlending' and covers areas such as advertising, loans, mortgages andother credit transactions.

We aim to ensure that:

• Credit is fairly provided
• Goods, services and property are not misdescribed
• Holidays and timeshare accommodation are not misrepresented
• Prices are correctly displayed and do not mislead
• Traders do not sell counterfeit goods
• Steps are taken to end unfair trading practices
• Terms in consumer contracts are fair

Further information is available from the Office of Fair Trading's website. It is designed with two purposes:

• to protect consumers and explain their rights
• to ensure that businesses compete and operate fairly.

You can find essential information for businesses on how to comply with legislation enforced by the Office of Fair Trading, check advice on consumer issues, follow the progress of investigations and action taken, or simply download the leaflets and reports.

Alternatively, you can contact our Trading Standards Officers using the details below.

Contact: Trading Standards Lancashire

Email: tsd@lancashire.gov.uk

Telephone: 0845 404 05 06 or 01772 533569

Fax: 01772 533591