Cyprus Property Action Group

By Jacqueline Theodoulou

The government is set to crack down on misleading advertisements with a new bill introducing fines for offenders.

The Chairman of the House Commerce Committee, Lefteris Christoforou of DISY, announced after yesterday’s session that Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis had been invited to attend his committee’s next meeting on Tuesday to discuss the issue. The head of the Committee for the Protection of Competition (CPC), Costakis Christoforou, will also attend in two weeks’ time, to discuss how the market is being monitored for misleading adverts.

As the President of the Cyprus Association for Consumers and Quality of Life Loucas Aristodemou pointed out, current legislation is not operating effectively and he hoped the new amendment would improve the situation.

According to data submitted to the Committee, current laws on misleading advertisements don’t provide any fines or penalties for offenders, except a written application to court by the ministry for a banning order on the advert.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Marios Droushiotis explained that by the time the ministry had intervened, the company had already stopped projecting the advertisement.

The new proposed law also appoints the Commerce Ministry’s Consumer Protection and Competition Service as the official service to observe the market and make sure legislation is being implemented.

The service, deputies reasoned, had the necessary structure and mechanism to ensure the law was being adhered to.