Packaging

Peter Luff
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) for what reasons the provisions permitting companies to take private action through the courts against competitors who make use of misleading packaging were not included in the legislation transposing the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive into UK law;

(2) what assessment he has made of the ability of UK manufacturers to prevent competitors from misrepresenting their products through the use of misleading and copycat packaging under the provisions of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

Mr. Thomas
In their response to the December 2005 consultation on implementation of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) the Government said they did not propose to allow businesses to take enforcement action for breaches of this directive. This is because they believed that existing arrangements are adequate for dealing with cases that result in real consumer detriment.

A number of responses to the May 2007 consultation on draft Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, which will implement the Directive, asked the Government to reconsider their decision not to allow businesses with a legitimate interest to take civil (injunctive) action to enforce the provisions on copycat packaging. We are carefully considering all the responses received before coming to a final decision on how the regulations should best be enforced in the interests of consumers. The Government intend to publish their response to the May 2007 consultation later this month.