Part 4: Consumer rights and disputes Prohibition of unfair commercial practices Schedule 20: Commercial practices which are in all circumstances considered unfair
This Schedule lists the commercial practices which are automatically considered unfair in all circumstances, and which are prohibited. The transactional decision test does not apply to these practices, meaning that a trader that carries out any of these commercial practices can be sanctioned by enforcers without assessing whether it is likely to cause the average consumer to take a different transactional decision in relation to a product.
	Subsection 13(1) prohibits the submitting or commissioning of fake consumer reviews or consumer reviews that conceal the fact that they have been incentivised. A description of what a consumer review that conceals the fact that it has been incentivised means is provided by subsection 13(5)(c).
	Subsection 13(2) prohibits publishing consumer reviews, or consumer review information, in a misleading way, for example platforms (or third-party traders operating on platforms) publishing consumer reviews in a misleading way by swapping a review of one product to another product (‘catalogue abuse’). A non-exhaustive list of what publishing in a misleading way includes is also provided by subsection 13(5)(i). Definitions of ‘consumer review information’ and ‘publishing’ are provided by subsections 13(5)(d) and 13(5)(h) respectively.
	Subsection 13(3) requires traders that publish consumer reviews or consumer review information, from third parties to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent inadvertent publication of fake consumer reviews, consumer reviews that conceal the fact they have been incentivised, or consumer review information that is false or misleading and remove such reviews or information. What are reasonable and proportionate steps will depend on the circumstances of the case and what is necessary to prevent the publication of this information, and include assessment of the risk of publication of false or misleading information. The Competition and Markets Authority will publish guidance to assist traders in understanding their obligations.
	Subsection 13(4) prohibits offering services to traders to (a) submit or commission fake consumer reviews, or consumer reviews that conceal the fact they have been incentivised or (b) publish consumer reviews or consumer review information in misleading ways. It would also prohibit offering services to facilitate these commercial practices. For example, by offering services that increase the chance of a fake consumer review being successfully posted on a platform or website by virtue of their expertise in bypassing the platform or website’s fake review detection measures. Facilitation may also extend to intermediary platforms that are aware of and allow fake consumer review services to be sold by traders on the platform.
	Subsection 13(5) sets out definitional information for this section.