The OFT took the first ever cross-border court action in Europe
against D Duchesne SA in 2004. The OFT obtained an injunction
against the company in the commercial court in Belgium to stop the
trader from making misleading prize notifications in connection
with its home shopping catalogue business.
D Duchesne SA appealed against the injunction but the Court of
Appeal agreed with the OFT's view that the mailings were
misleading, and upheld the original ruling.
D Duchesne SA, trading in the UK under the names 'TV Direct
Distribution' and 'Just 4 You', had sent millions of mailings to UK
consumers. The mailings led consumers to believe that they had won
a considerable cash prize, usually £10,000, and that they could
only claim this prize if they bought a product from the catalogue
enclosed with the mailing.
The vast majority of recipients of the mailing were unlikely to
receive the cash prize they thought they had won, as responding to
the mailing only guaranteed a consumer entry into a draw for the
prize in question. Hundreds of consumers complained to the OFT that
they had been misled by the mailings.
The OFT brought proceedings in Brussels for breaches of the
Belgian and English implementation of the Misleading Advertising
Directive, which provides protection against misleading and
unacceptable comparative advertisements.
Under the Injunctions Directive (implemented in the UK as part
of the Enterprise Act of 2002), the OFT is empowered to enforce the
misleading advertising laws of another member state and apply to
their courts for an injunction to end continued publication of
misleading advertisements in the UK.
The OFT argued in Belgium that the company's prize notifications
were misleading and unfairly persuaded recipients to buy its
products. Approximately one million mailings per month were sent to
UK consumers, with D Duchesne SA receiving 4,000 orders per day
from its catalogues.
Welcoming the judgment, Christine Wade, Director of Consumer
Regulation Enforcement, said: "This ruling sends a clear
message to companies sending similarly misleading mail shots that
they are unacceptable. We will continue to work to protect
consumers from deceptive, dishonest and misleading marketing
practices, whether they originate in the UK or elsewhere."
