§ Mr. DafisTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many prosecutions have been brought under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, concerning claims of the environmental friendliness and sustainability of timber and paper products in each of the last five years; and how many such prosecutions have been successful in each year.
213W
§ Mr. Leigh[pursuant to his answer, 28 January 1993, column 817]: It has been brought to my attention that the statistics provided in that answer were incorrect. Regrettably, those statistics, which were produced by the Office of Fair Trading, concerned prosecutions under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 involving all types of statement, rather than only environmental claims, about timber and paper products. In fact, none of the 214W prosecutions covered by the statistics involved environmental claims. Thus, my reply should have stated that the OFT has not been notified of any prosecutions by local authorities under the TDA concerning claims of the environmental friendliness and sustainability of timber and paper products over the last five years–1988 to 1992 inclusive. I offer my apologies to the House for giving incorrect information in my original reply.