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Written question asked by Angela Eagle (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 February 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 February 2021 (named day). It was answered by Paul Scully (Conservative) on Monday, 22 February 2021 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Disinfectants

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of disinfectant products that are marketed and sold in the UK that are making false or misleading claims about their efficacy in killing covid-19 on surfaces; and what steps his Department is taking to tackle those false and misleading claims.

Answer

The Advertising Standards Authority has an online complaints page for people to report advertisements that make misleading, harmful or irresponsible claims about COVID-19. The form can be found at: https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint/quick-report.html.

Furthermore, the Competition and Markets Authority has created a COVID-19 taskforce and set up an online form to enable consumers and business to report any businesses they believe is behaving unfairly during the pandemic. The form can be found at: https://www.coronavirus-business-complaint.service.gov.uk/.

The information received through those exercises is fed into the enforcement activities of those respective bodies and discussed at the Consumer Protection Partnership which coordinates activities.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
151625
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Disease control Misleading advertising Disinfectants Coronavirus
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk