Lord Offord of Garvel:

Moved by Lord Offord of Garvel

107: Schedule 19, page 362, line 10, at end insert—“12A “(1) Submitting, or commissioning another person to submit or write—(a) a fake consumer review, or(b) a consumer review that conceals the fact it has been incentivised.(2) Publishing consumer reviews, or consumer review information, in a misleading way.(3) Publishing consumer reviews, or consumer review information, without taking such reasonable and proportionate steps as are necessary for the purposes of—(a) preventing the publication of—(i) fake consumer reviews,(ii) consumer reviews that conceal the fact they have been incentivised, or(iii) consumer review information that is false or misleading, and(b) removing any such reviews or information from publication.(4) Offering services to traders—(a) for the doing of anything covered by sub-paragraph (1) or (2);(b) for the facilitating of anything covered by sub- paragraph (1) or (2) to be done.(5) For the purposes of this paragraph—(a) “consumer review” means a review of a product, a trader or any other matter relevant to a transactional decision;(b) “fake consumer review” means a consumer review that purports to be, but is not, based on a person’s genuine experience;(c) a consumer review conceals the fact it has been incentivised if—(i) a person has been commissioned to submit or write the review, and(ii) that fact is not made apparent (whether through the contents of the review or otherwise);(d) “consumer review information” means information that is derived from, or is influenced by, consumer reviews;(e) a person “submits” a review or information if they supply it with a view to publication;(f) “writing” includes creating by any means; (g) “commissioning” includes incentivising by any means (and “commissioned” is to be read accordingly);(h) “publishing” includes disseminating, or otherwise making available, by any means;(i) publishing in a “misleading way” includes (for example)—(i) failing to publish, or removing from publication, negative consumer reviews whilst publishing positive ones (or vice versa);(ii) giving greater prominence to positive consumer reviews over negative ones (or vice versa);(iii) omitting information that is relevant to the circumstances in which a consumer review has been written (including that a person has been commissioned to write the review).”Member’s explanatory statementThis amendment adds various activities relating to fake reviews directed at consumers to the list of unfair commercial practices in Schedule 19 to the Bill.

Amendments 107A and 107B (to Amendment 107) not moved.

Amendment 107 agreed.

Amendments 108 and 109 not moved.

Clause 225: Misleading actions

Amendments 110 and 111 not moved.

Clause 229: Omission of material information from invitation to purchase