EU set to ban foot-in-the-door salesmen

SPECIAL offers that are not so special, foot-in-the-door salesmen and ambulance-chasing lawyers will all be banned under a new EU law expected to be agreed next week.

The law is aimed at protecting consumers from misleading practices. Tánaiste Mary Harney will chair the third and last Competitiveness Council of the Irish Presidency in Brussels on Monday when they are expected to agree the new directive.

Industry and businesses in Britain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have been fighting some of the new measures, saying it will be confusing and impossible to implement.

But Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne has defended the proposal he put forward a year ago and says it will give consumers the confidence to shop cross border and open up opportunities to small and medium sized business and industry.

The idea is to harmonise existing consumer protection legislation across the 25 EU states.

It will take two years for the new directive to be transposed into Irish law.

Some of the misleading claims to be banned include: l "Bait advertising" scams advertising a product as a special offer without actually having it in stock, or having only a token stock of it.

l Using the expression "liquidation sale" or equivalent when the trader is not about to cease trading.

l Falsely arguing that the personal security of the consumer or his family is at risk if the consumer does not purchase the product.

The law will also mean persistent and unwanted solicitations by telephone, fax, e-mail or other media will be banned while targeting consumers who have recently suffered a bereavement or illness in their family in order to sell a product which bears a direct relationship with the misfortune will also be unlawful.

The law will crack down on advertising to children in a way which implies acceptance by their peers is dependent on their parents buying them a particular product

The law will also stipulate that a trader who makes a claim about the effect of a product will have to be able to back it up wherever in the EU the trader is based.

The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive is set to tackle existing differences in national laws on marketing and advertising practices.

The directive will put in place a set of rules on what constitutes an unfair commercial practice. This means that businesses of all sizes will be able to spend less on legal advice about how to comply with unfamiliar advertising and marketing rules.