New Guideline Pricing to Help Curb Errant Business Practices
Businesses in Singapore must abide by a new guideline pricing. This will start from 1 November in a bid to curb errant business practices like misleading advertising.
Misleading advertising includes omitting mandatory fees and touting misleading prices. Businesses will have two months to get things in order. This new guideline is set by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS). It will apply to all online and physical businesses.
CCCS will use these guidelines for Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act. The new guideline pricing will be the framework businesses need to follow to avoid law infringement. There is a possibility of imposing financial penalties without having to go to court.
The new guideline pricing in Singapore will cover four aspects:
- Price drops (fees added to advertised prices during the transaction)
- Price comparisons that are misleading
- False discounts
- Misleading use of the term “free”
The Importance
The full guideline has been published on the CCCS website. If businesses do not clean up their act within the specified timeframe, action will be taken. This Act will apply to businesses that provide goods and services to consumers in Singapore. For now, enforcing the guidelines cross-border remains a challenge.
It is important that all consumers continue to be as informed as possible and make good buying decisions. The new guideline pricing hopes to build trust among consumers long-term, especially with the current state of things.
