UAB ŽVILGSNIS IŠ ARČIAU - MISLEADING CLAIMS IN SERVICE ADVERTISING

The Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania examined the conclusions of the investigation concerning the actions of UAB Žvilgsnis iš arčiau while advertising their services in the Internet and passed the appropriate decision. Some of the statements announced by the company were recognized as misleading advertising. The company was recognized as having violated the requirements of Art.5 of the Law on Advertising and subjected to a fine of LTL 13 500. Furthermore, the company was obligated, in an established manner, to cease the use of the misleading advertising and issue corrective statements regarding the claims made thereby in the homepages of the indicated websites.

The investigation concerning the misleading advertising was initiated as a response to the application filed by the Chamber of Bailiffs of Lithuania. The investigation conducted established that while advertising its services UAB Žvilgsnis iš arčiau, claimed to be performing the functions that in the manner provided by the law are assigned to other institutions. Such advertising claims were published in April-October 2005 in the internet websites www.zia.lt and www.zvilgsnis.lt . While offering its services in the internet website the company was claiming that it: „<...>performs the supervision of bailiffs engaged in forced recovery, and the bankruptcy administrators“, or <...> where in the course of the debt recovery it is established that the more appropriate solution is to recover the debt through the legally proceedings, after the debt is awarded, you may assign the recovery of the debt to the Bailiff Division of the Legal Department of our company that will place the assets and funds of the debtors under attachment at no additional costs. This way you not only recover your debts, but also all the expenses related to the debt exaction “. By advertising its services and claiming to be performing the functions that in the manner provided by the law are assigned to other institutions, such as the Ministry of Justice and the court, UAB Žvilgsnis iš arčiau was creating an image of a company rendering complex services, which in the opinion of the Competition Council was misleading the consumers and could possibly stimulate their economic behaviour to order the actually provided services.