EU threat over ‘free’ promotions

Deals such as the Carphone Warehouse’s free Dell laptop promotion, and similar ones from DSGi could be a thing of the past after Sweden and Finland threatened to take the UK government to court over its refusal to enforce a law that will ban marketers from using the word ‘free’ in promotions.

The UK is due to ratify the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading regulations, which bans the use of the word ‘free’ in promotions, on May 21st, however, the government has said that it will not enforce the law leaving companies free to continue using the word in promotions.

However, the Swedish and Finnish governments have informed the EU that if the UK government fails to enforce the regulations then they will take it to the European Court of Justice.

If successful, retailers would no longer be able to use buy on get on free offers or buy three, get the cheapest item free-style promotions.

Source: BrandRepublic