Company fined for misleading book offer

The consumer protection service has fined a company €10,000 for mis-selling children’s books, it was announced on Thursday.

According to the announcement, the service fined Power Publishing Ltd in relation to the sale of drawing books addressed to children of a pre-school age.

The books were packed inside transparent plastic packaging together with a free DVD.

Consumers could only see one side of the DVD, which advertised animated movies. The other side, which could only be seen after buying and opening the package, said that the DVD also contained a documentary.

The documentary in question was judged unsuitable for children under the ages of 12.

The consumer protection service determined that the practice constituted unfair trading because the company promoted children’s drawing books using a DVD whose contents were not exclusively for children but were presented as such, “misleading consumers” and concealing essential information at the moment of purchase.

After examining the case, the service fined the company €10,000, take into consideration, among other things, the fact that the company had failed to cooperate.

 

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