What are the penalties for misleading advertising?
The potential penalties for contravening the criminal or civil misleading advertising provisions can be severe. Under the criminal misleading advertising provision (section 52) the potential penalties are, on indictment, a fine in the discretion of the court, imprisonment for up to fourteen years, or both. On summary conviction, the penalties are a fine of up to $200,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both. Under the general civil misleading advertising provision, penalties include judicial orders to: (i) cease the conduct, (ii) publish a corrective notice, and/or (iii) pay an “administrative monetary penalty” (essentially a civil fine) on the first occurrence of up to $750,000 for individuals ($1 million for each subsequent order) or $10 million for corporations ($15 million for each subsequent order) or (iv) make restitution to compensate consumers that have purchased a product. In reality, the vast majority of misleading advertising matters are resolved by way of negotiated se
Related Questions
- Where can I find information on complaints about a certain company, misleading advertising/deceptive marketing practices, and language labelling requirements?
- Would self-regulation in the food industry not be sufficient to prevent misleading advertising and labelling?
- What are the penalties for incorrect distribution of advertising material?
