News

The UK will remain the only EU country without the right to private prosecutions in copycat packaging cases, after the government revealed yesterday (5 February) that it had not included such a provision in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

The British Brands Group (BBG) claimed the government had "missed the best opportunity in 10 years" to combat copycat packaging by not including the right to private prosecution in the directive.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) said it had removed the right to private prosecution because it feared some businesses would take action against competitors for "their own commercial purposes". 

Consequently, the directive restricts enforcement to "only a limited number of organisations", such as Trading Standards and the Office for Fair Trading (OFT).

BBG director John Noble called on the OFT and Trading Standards to "demonstrate that they have the capacity to deal with cases of misleading packaging in a prompt and efficient manner".

"We will be giving the OFT and Trading Standards whatever help we can to stop copycat packaging," he added.

The BBG said it feared taxpayers would have to cover the costs of prosecutions by the OFT and Trading Standards.

Mark Prisk, the Conservatives' shadow minister for small businesses, said the directive increased the burden on "already overstretched agencies" and increased bureaucracy.

The BBG will monitor the progress of the directive over the next three years before it is formally reviewed by the government.

The government plans can be downloaded from www.berr.gov.uk/files/file44300.pdf