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Unsolicited Goods and Services
Under
the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971, (as amended) it is an
offence to demand payment for goods known to be unsolicited, in
other words, they were sent to a person without any prior request
made by them or on their behalf. Someone who receives goods in these
circumstances may retain them as an unconditional gift, and does not
have to pay for or return any unwanted goods. Anyone who receives a
demand for payment for unsolicited goods should report the matter to
their local Trading Standards Department, whose details can be
located from http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/.
However,
in the case of unsolicited goods received before 1 November 2000,
the recipient is required to give notice to the sender to collect
them within 30 days, or otherwise to wait for 6 months, before being
able to treat the goods as their own property.
Trade
Directories
Under
the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971, as amended 1975 (UGSA),
it is an offence to demand payment for an unsolicited entry in a
trade directory. Many such demands come from abroad. All business
should be vigilant to the possibility of invoices for both goods and
services they have not ordered. All companies who receive
unsolicited approaches of this nature should contact their Business
Link who can provide useful advice. Anyone who has paid an
unsolicited demand of this kind should contact their local Trading
Standards department.
Public
consultation on proposed changes to the Unsolicited Goods and
Services Act 1971
The
Government is proposing to amend the Unsolicited Goods and Services
Act 1971 (the “1971 Act”) in order to reduce administrative
burdens for directory publishers and those who choose to place paid
entries in directories.
The
aim is to remove and amend certain authorisation requirements within
the 1971 Act in order to reflect the modern commercial realities of
the directory publishing environment, while ensuring that the 1971
Act still provides protection against a number of scams.
In
addition, there is a proposal to widen the scope of the Unsolicited
Goods and Services (Invoices etc) Regulations 1975 to include
electronic as well as paper based documents.
The
proposed changes, which should remove unnecessary "red
tape" without compromising the rights freedoms of businesses
and others, can be implemented by means of a Regulatory Reform
Order. Before this can be done, however, views must be obtained on
the proposals, both in general and to ensure the criteria of the
Regulatory Reform Act 2001 are satisfied.
  Consultation
document.
The
closing date for receipt of responses is 27 June 2003.
Unsolicited Mail and Other Unsolicited Approaches
 Please
click the button to read our Fact Sheet on unsolicited mail and scam
promotions
Unsolicited Mail.
Unsolicited mail is a legitimate marketing tool but it also includes
deliberate scams.
Unsolicited
mailings are often sent to consumers telling them that they have won
or are otherwise entitled to claim a large sum of money or an
attractive prize. To collect the money or prize, the consumer needs
to send a payment, of typically between £15 and £20 but possibly
much more, to the originator for administration or processing costs.
More often than not, the money has to be sent to a PO Box. The
PO Box may be within or outside the UK but the source of these
mailings are usually overseas (Canada, USA, Australia, the
Netherlands and Austria are among the most common sources).
Awareness
Campaign
 Melanie Johnson, the
Minister for Consumers, recently launched an awareness campaign to
stop consumers being ripped off by postal scams, such as bogus prize
draws and competitions.
Press Notice: The Minister urges the public to
"Rip up postal rip-offs"
Leaflet: Prizewinner or prize fool?(86
Kb)
(printed version available soon)
A4 Poster: Prizewinner or prize fool? (44
Kb) (printed version available soon).
 For
further information on stopping unsolicited mail and information on
scams please visit our
Don't be a mug! - A Consumer's Guide to
Scams
web site.
DTI
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