False Trade Description in United Kingdom

Definition of False Trade Description

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of False Trade Description : A description of goods made in the course of a business that is false in respect of certain facts (See trade description). Under the Trade Descriptions Acts 1968 and 1972 it is an offence to apply a false trade description to goods either directly, by implication, or indirectly (e.g. by tampering with a car’s mileometer or painting over rust on the bodywork). It is also an offence to supply or offer to supply goods to which a false trade description is attached. These offences are triable either summarily or on indictment (in which case they carry a maximum two years’ prison sentence). They are offences of *strict liability, although certain specified defences are allowed (e.g. that the defendant relied on information supplied by someone else). The Acts are supplemented by the Fair Trading Act 1973.