Australian Court imposes penalty for false or misleading claims by Homeopathy practitioner

The Australian federal Court has ordered the company Homeopathy Plus to pay penalties of $115,000 and its director, Frances Sheffield, to pay $23,000 for making false or misleading representations about the effectiveness of the whooping cough vaccine and homeopathic remedies as an alternative to the whooping cough vaccine. Furthermore, the company was also ordered to remove its advertisements which made this claim.

The claims were found to contravene section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law. (ACL) which states:

“A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive.”

South Africa, like Australia, has enacted legislation to protect the consumer. Perhaps the most obvious example of which is the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). As with section 18 of the ACL, section 41 of the CPA prohibits suppliers making false, misleading or deceptive statements about goods or services they provide.

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