Misleading advertising, by country
Two different questions sit behind a misleading advert: is it forbidden, and does the buyer get anything from it. Australia, France, Norway and Japan state the ban itself; Australia and Norway then point the buyer to damages or the ordinary contract remedies, while Japan lets the buyer cancel the contract. Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden take a second route through sales law: what the seller or the producer said in advertising counts when deciding whether the goods are as promised, with a defence if the seller could not have known of the statement or it was corrected before the sale.
| Country | Ban on misleading advertising | Buyer's remedy stated | Advertised claims count towards what is owed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce is prohibited | Damages action within 6 years | |
| Germany | Yes: public statements in advertising count, unless the seller did not know of them, they were corrected, or they could not affect the purchase | ||
| Spain | Yes: public statements in advertising or labelling count, unless the trader did not know of them, they were corrected, or they could not influence the purchase | ||
| France | Unfair commercial practices, including misleading ones, are prohibited | ||
| Japan | Exaggerated mail-order advertising is prohibited | Consumer may cancel a contract signed because of a false statement | |
| Netherlands | Yes: public statements in advertising or labelling count, unless the seller did not know of them, they were corrected, or they could not influence the purchase | ||
| Norway | Misleading commercial practices are prohibited | Compensation, price reduction or cancellation under contract and tort rules | Yes: goods are defective if they do not match what the seller said in marketing, unless corrected before the sale or it cannot have affected the purchase |
| Sweden | Yes: goods must match what the trader or an earlier seller said in marketing or before the sale |
Country by country
Australia
- Rule
- Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Schedule 2 (ACL), ss 18 and 236
- Section 18 covers any person acting in trade or commerce, not only advertisers, and is not limited to consumers.
- The ingested text of the sales-law provisions was not used here, so the last column is left blank.
A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive. the claimant may recover the amount of the loss or damage by action against that other personwithin 6 years after the day on which the cause of action that relates to the conduct accrued Germany
- Rule
- BGB § 434
- The statute ingested for Germany is the BGB sales law; the unfair-competition act that bans misleading advertising is not ingested, so the first two columns are blank.
- Between two traders or two private parties the parties may agree that quantity, quality and similar features are not part of the usual condition.
der öffentlichen Äußerungen, die von dem Verkäufer oder einem anderen Glied der Vertragskette oder in deren Auftrag, insbesondere in der Werbung oder auf dem Etikett, abgegeben wurdenwenn er sie nicht kannte und auch nicht kennen konnte, wenn die Äußerung im Zeitpunkt des Vertragsschlusses in derselben oder in gleichwertiger Weise berichtigt war oder wenn die Äußerung die Kaufentscheidung nicht beeinflussen konnte Spain
- Rule
- LGDCU art. 115 ter
- Applies to consumer sales of goods and digital content. Article 19 of the same law treats breaches of sector rules on advertising as unfair practices, but it states no ban or remedy in terms that fit these columns, so they are left blank.
teniendo en cuenta cualquier declaración pública realizada por el empresario, o en su nombre, o por otras personas en fases previas de la cadena de transacciones, incluido el productor, especialmente en la publicidad o el etiquetadoQue la declaración pública no pudo influir en la decisión de adquirir el bien o el contenido o servicio digital. France
- Rule
- Code de la consommation, arts. L121-1 and L121-2
- A practice is misleading if it rests on false or misleading claims about, among other things, the price, the essential features of the product or the trader's commitments.
- The ingested articles state the ban and its definition, not a remedy for the buyer, so that column is blank.
Les pratiques commerciales déloyales sont interdites.Constituent, en particulier, des pratiques commerciales déloyales les pratiques commerciales trompeuses Une pratique commerciale est trompeuse si elle est commise dans l'une des circonstances suivantesLorsqu'elle repose sur des allégations, indications ou présentations fausses ou de nature à induire en erreur Japan
- Rule
- 特定商取引法 第十二条; 消費者契約法 第四条
- The ban in Article 12 covers mail-order sales advertising (tsūshin hanbai); the Consumer Contract Act cancellation right covers any consumer contract where the business made the statement while soliciting it.
- The cancellation right in Article 4 depends on the consumer having been misled into the contract, not on the advert alone.
著しく事実に相違する表示をし、又は実際のものよりも著しく優良であり、若しくは有利であると人を誤認させるような表示をしてはならない 重要事項について事実と異なることを告げること。これを取り消すことができる。 Netherlands
- Rule
- BW boek 7, art. 18
- Applies to consumer sales. Only Book 7 of the Civil Code is ingested for the Netherlands, so no advertising ban is shown.
rekening houdend met publieke mededelingen die zijn gedaan door of namens de verkoper of andere personen in eerdere schakels van de transactieketen, waaronder de producent, in het bijzonder in reclameboodschappen of op de etiketteringde beslissing tot aankoop van de zaak niet door de publieke mededeling beïnvloed kon zijn Norway
- Rule
- Markedsføringsloven §§ 7 and 48 c; Forbrukerkjøpsloven § 16
- Section 7 covers practices aimed at consumers; § 26 separately forbids misleading statements in business activity generally.
- Statements by earlier sellers or on packaging bind the seller too, unless the seller neither knew nor reasonably could have known of them.
En handelspraksis er villedende dersom den inneholder uriktige opplysninger og dermed er usannferdig eller på annen måte er egnet til å villede forbrukerne kan forbrukeren ha krav på blant annet erstatning, prisavslag og heving etter kontraktsrettslige, avtalerettslige og erstatningsrettslige regler den ikke svarer til opplysninger som selgeren i sin markedsføring eller ellers har gitt om tingen eller dens brukdersom selgeren ikke viser at opplysningene før kjøpet er rettet på samme eller tilsvarende måte som de ble fremsatt, eller at de ikke kan ha innvirket på kjøpet Sweden
- Rule
- Konsumentköplag 4 kap. 2 §
- Applies to consumer sales of goods. The marketing act that bans misleading advertising is not ingested, so the first two columns are blank.
stämma överens med sådana uppgifter om varans egenskaper och andra särdrag eller användning som näringsidkaren eller någon i ett tidigare säljled eller för näringsidkarens räkning har lämnat vid marknadsföringen av varan eller annars före köpet Countries not in this table yet
The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Austria are not shown: their advertising or consumer-sales statutes on this point are not among the ingested texts or did not state the rule in terms that fit the table.
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