• Could the company selling the supplements - Natural Pharmaceuticals - have misled consumers by advertising those products? The proceedings will show.
• The allegations of the President of the Office concern, among other things, non-transparent information that the consumer will receive a supply of the supplements every year.
• The manager of the company may also be held financially liable.

Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK, has accused Natural Pharmaceuticals from Warsaw of violating collective interests of consumers. The company sells dietary supplements remotely - they can be ordered via the Internet, over the phone or by filling out a printed copy of a purchase order. At the same time, the President of the Office initiated proceedings to impose a fine on the person managing the company, who may have deliberately infringed consumer rights.

- Every consumer has the right to accurate and non-misleading information that includes all necessary details of the product. It is the trader's responsibility to present the product in a correct way so that the consumer can make an informed purchasing decision. Within the framework of the proceedings, we will investigate whether the company that sells the dietary supplements provided consumers with transparent information about the purchase of the product. A financial sanction may also be imposed on the person managing the company - says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

The concerns of the Office are:

• Non-transparent information to consumers with regard to participation in the annual supply programme (subscription).

The information about participation in the regular supply programme is written in small print at the bottom of the purchase order form. In turn, in the case of orders over the phone, the information is read out very fast by the consultant and the consumer does not participate in the conversation actively, which may make it difficult for the consumer to make an informed purchasing decision. Furthermore, in the case of some purchases made online, the company might not have informed the consumers at all that they got included in the regular supply programme.

• Presenting the order confirmation in a way that may be misleading.

After placing an order via the Internet for a free sample of the product, the consumer is directed to the order confirmation page and, at the same time, a special offer is displayed - of an annual supply of the product at a reduced price along with a gift. The information confirming the order of the free product is presented in a small print while the button to confirm the order of the paid version of the supplement is exposed. However, selecting the "Order" button is not a confirmation of an order for a free monthly supply of the dietary supplement but it applies to the paid annual supply of the product. This may cause the consumer to order the annual supply unknowingly or by mistake.

• The provision of misleading information to make the purchase of the supplements seem credible to consumers.

According to the advertising materials the ProstaXin Plus dietary supplement is recommended for all men over the age of 50 as part of the National Campaign for Prostate Cancer, which may suggest that it is a programme initiated by government entities. According to the information available to UOKiK, this campaign is organised by Natural Pharmaceuticals. The company's marketing trick may have been used to make the offered supplement credible as a wholesome product that effectively helps men who struggle with health problems.

The advertisements referred to the European  Food Safety Authority - for example, there was a statement that the entity recommended the intake of various minerals. Based on the information available to UOKiK, it may have been unlawful as EFSA has not issued a recommendation for the products sold by Natural Pharmaceuticals.

The advertisements also suggested that more than one million consumers were satisfied with a particular dietary supplement, while that piece of information applied to all customers of the company, including those using free samples.

• Failure to indicate that the button for online purchase was actually a button to order the product with the obligation to pay. Instead, the text "I am ordering" appears, which may be inconsistent with the Consumer Rights Act.
• Misleading consumers with the use of a TV advertisement that stated that every household could order a free annual supply of vitamin D. However, the advertisement included additional conditions presented in small print - covering the shipping costs, which the consumers might not have been able to notice.

Proceedings for the infringement of the collective interests of consumers may result in a penalty of up to 10% of the turnover of the company for each infringing practice identified. At the same time, the President of UOKiK initiated proceedings to impose a penalty on the person managing Natural Pharmaceuticals. According to the law, if the person has deliberately violated consumer rights, the person may face a fine of up to PLN 2 million for each practice.

Consumer support:

Phone No. 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – consumer hotline
Email: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
 Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or county
 Trade Inspection – in your voivodeship

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL