Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) - Transposition to UK law

The Directive was adopted on 11 May 2005. Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations implementing the Directive in the UK came in to force on 26 May 2008. This page carries news and documents related to the transposition of the Directive into UK law.

26 May 2008 - Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations and Business Protection from Misleeading Marketing Regulations came into force.

8 May 2008 - Consumer Protection from  Unfair Trading Regulations and Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations made. (See Related Documents).

3 March 2008 - draft Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations and Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations were laid before Parliament.

4 February 2008 - the Government's response to the consultation on draft implementing regulations was published.This included updated Impact Assessments on the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) which implement the UCPD, and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations (BPRs) which implement Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive (MCAD) 2006. That Directive codified the previous 1984 Directive on the subject with amendments made to it by previous Directives (including the UCPD). The previous 1984 Directive is currently implemented by the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 which are to be repealed by the CPRs.

May 2007 - Consultation on Regulations and Guidance. The Government published a new consultation seeking views on the draft regulations implementing the Directive. The OFT published a consultation on the draft guidance for the directive. These consultations close on 21 August 2007. The Government also published its response to the December 2006 consultation on how to frame criminal offences.

December 2006 - Response to Consultation - On 11 December 2006 the Government published it's response to the December 2005 consultation, announcing the decision to repeal provisions in 22 pieces of UK legislation, and that most of the prohibitions in the regulations implementing the UCPD will have criminal offences. The Government also published a consultation paper on how the criminal offences should be framed.  The deadline of this consultation was 5 February 2007.

Dec 2005 - Consultation on Transposition. The Government published a consultation document considering how the Directive should be transposed into UK law. This was accompanied by a Partial Regulatory Impact assessment (RIA). The consultation closed on 8 March 2006. A summary of responses was published in June 2006. The Government's response to the consultation will follow.

August 2005 - Report of DTI Workshop, Civil Redress. The Department (BERR) held a workshop considering the merits of providing for private law rights as part of the legislation implementing the UCPD. A report of its findings will be made available shortly.

June 2005 - Report of DTI Workshop, Criminal Sanctions. Report of BERR workshops on the effectiveness of criminal sanctions following transposition of the UCPD.

June 2005 -Report on application and scope of the UCPD. The BERR commissioned a report on the application and scope of the UCPD. This was conducted by Dr Christian Twigg-Flesner; Deborah Parry; Professor Geraint Howells; and Annette Nordhausen.

July 2003 - Consultation on Draft Directive. The UK Government issued a consultation on the draft Directive in July 2003. A summary of the replies received and a Government response was published in March 2004.

July 2003 - Report of BERR Workshop, General Duty to Trade Fairly. Report of BERR workshop on the evidence for a general duty to trade fairly.

July 2003 - The Impact of Adopting a Duty to Trade Fairly. A BERR-commissioned legal study by leading academics on "The Impact of Adopting a Duty to Trade Fairly".

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