There were fewer complaints to the Fairness Commission in 2018 than in the previous year
In 2018, the Fair Trading Commission handled 63 complaints. Most of the cases involved gender discrimination; by industry, they were concentrated in «Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality, and Restaurants»; and by media channel, they were concentrated on the Internet.
As the Swiss Commission for Fair Trading (SLK) announced on Monday, it is not clear why the number of complaints fell from 82 in the previous year to 63 in 2018. The decline could be related to the fact that last year there were no dominant topics such as violations of the stop-advertising sticker, aggressive telephone marketing or tobacco advertising, which had triggered many complaints in previous years.
On the other hand, the SLK received roughly the same number of calls or emails with complaints about advertising measures and even opened more preliminary proceedings than in the previous year. According to the press release, the willingness to complete and send in the complaint form has apparently fallen significantly.
The internet is the media channel that provoked the most complaints (40 percent); twice as many as direct marketing and all other media, which, with the exception of print advertising (12 percent), each accounted for less than ten percent of complaints. The distribution of offenses was just as clear. Gender discrimination was the reason for complaints in just under 37% of cases.
With regard to the legal basis, the most common reason for complaint (almost 43%) concerned Art. 3 para. 1 lit. b of the Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UWG). This states that anyone who "makes incorrect or misleading statements about himself, his company, his business name, his goods, works or services, their prices, the quantity in stock, the type of sales event or about his business relationships, or who favors third parties in competition in a corresponding manner, is acting unfairly."
From the perspective of the sectors concerned, the highest number of complaints in connection with advertising were in the "Leisure, tourism, hotel + restaurant" sector with just under 13 percent, closely followed by "Food, beverages" with just under 12 percent and "Home, garden" and "Services, administration" with around 10 percent of cases each.
Just under one in ten complaints was a so-called competition complaint by a company against a competitor. The three chambers of the SLK upheld the complaint in 40 percent of cases. Just under 50 percent were rejected and a good 10 percent were not even considered. (SDA)
The number of complaints procedures fell from 82 in the previous year to 63 in 2018. It is not clear why. The decline could be related to the fact that last year there were no dominant topics such as violations of the stop-advertising sticker, aggressive telemarketing or tobacco advertising, which had triggered many complaints in previous years. On the other hand, the SLK received roughly the same number of calls or emails with complaints about advertising measures and even opened more preliminary proceedings than in the previous year. The willingness to fill out and send in the complaint form has apparently fallen significantly.
The Internet is the media channel that provoked the most complaints (40 percent); twice as many as direct marketing and all other media, which, with the exception of print advertising (12 percent), each accounted for less than ten percent of complaints. The distribution of offenses was just as clear. Gender discrimination was the reason for complaints in just under 37 percent of cases. In terms of the legal basis, the most common reason for complaint, at almost 43 percent, concerned Art. 3 para. 1 lit. b of the Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UWG). This states that anyone who "makes incorrect or misleading statements about himself, his company, his business name, his goods, works or services, their prices, the quantity in stock, the type of sales event or about his business relationships, or who favors third parties in competition in a corresponding manner, is acting unfairly."
From the point of view of the sectors concerned, most complaints were related to advertising in the "Leisure, tourism, hotel + restaurant" sector with just under 13%, closely followed by "Food, beverages" with just under 12% and "Home, garden" and "Services, administration" with around 10% of cases each. Just under one in ten complaints was a so-called competition complaint by a company against a competitor. The three chambers approved the complaint in 40 percent of cases, rejected just under 50 percent and did not even consider a good 10 percent.
