Comments on: UK Consumer Protection Unfair Trading Regulations That Might Affect Advertising, Links, Affiliates & Product Launches

By: Proposed FTC Guidelines & How They Affect Affiliates & Bloggers

Proposed FTC Guidelines & How They Affect Affiliates & Bloggers — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:17:42 +0000

[...] regulations called the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which require disclosure on affiliate links and sponsored editorial content. So far these don’t seem to have been enforced which begs the question, why were they created [...]

By: Luke

Luke — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:52:06 +0000

OK, so they are trying to separate commercial from non commercial content? That seems to be key here.

The things about impersonation, fake qualifications, fake scarcity etc, well I’m glad to see those laws, even though I’m a marketer. I think those things are just shortcuts from creating quality content and value. And you don’t tend to find these things coming from reputable merchants (but maybe some of their affiliates).

The one killer there though, is the commercial-intent-to-be-declared-at all-times angle. I don’t like that at all. Not stating commercial intent is at the heart of the affiliate-product-review business model, which consumers don’t know are funded by commissions.

Interesting.

Affiliates would be hurt more by this. Not so much merchants.

Luke

By: Jean Lafitte

Jean Lafitte — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:36:14 +0000

Wow, that’s pretty crazy stuff. Thank God there are enough international waters – otherwise us blog pirates would soon have no more jobs – arrr!

By: Legislation Which Could Affect All Adult Webmasters | Make Money Market Porn

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:31:34 +0000

[...] you look at Andy Beard’s recent discussion of this and the comments on the post, you will see that this law not only affects those living and trading [...]

By: UK Consumer Protection Conference | Andy Beard - Niche Marketing

UK Consumer Protection Conference | Andy Beard - Niche Marketing — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:02:54 +0000

[...] my last post regarding the new Consumer Protection laws that came into force 26th May, I had to preface the post that I am not a lawyer, and effectively [...]

By: Susan Singleton

Susan Singleton — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:15:46 +0000

I have been doing quite a bit of work on these regulations including putting on a conference with the UK Government representative who has been drafting and advising them – we are running it again on 11th June (www.singlelaw.com)….pause there and laugh because on 26 May when the UK version of the regulations are in force I will not be allowed to do that – merge the comment with some “advertorial” or subtle or not so subtle plugs for a service or product.

It will be a criminal offence but probably used as a last resort for persistent offenders.

A disclaimer will not work but if someone is outside the jurisdiction and happy to avoid holidays in the UK in future they may be able to avoid the strong arm of European Justice I suppose.

Concerns in the UK have been over issues such as are “buy one get one free ” (BOGOF) offers still okay – yes they are. Being careful however to make sure what is “free” is definitely free. Issues over conduct of salesmen who go door to door -so training for staff is useful under the new regulations. A couple of companies have asked me to do some training in house on the regulations. Also viral marketing is likely to be a problem under the regulations. The Government has issued guidance and also updated its general guidance on “Price indications” so anyone interested in how this affects pricing of goods should have a look at that too.

By: Lord Matt

Lord Matt — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:21:31 +0000

Wow. Nice one Andy. Thanks for bring that to my (and every one else’s) attention.

By: Coffee Break

Coffee Break — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:42:41 +0000

[...] on blogging restrictions in the UK. Andy Beard has published a giant post telling more about the new laws that may affect what bloggers can [...]

By: Amalaki

Amalaki — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:22:54 +0000

I am curious as to how any of this would apply to say a network marketing firm too. Affiliates aren’t much different.

By: George

George — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:57:29 +0000

I am glad they haven’t done this in the US. It sounds as if this it’s going to be difficult to comply with these laws, because there is room for interpretation. Reminds me a little of Google Adsense TOS.

Hope this kind of regulation never hits the States. Thanks for letting us know about it. Stumbled…