New law bans selling of products with unjustified health claims

Consumers in the United Kingdom are to receive stronger legal safeguards against products that claim, without any identifiable scientific evidence, to provide physical and mental health benefits such as tackling obesity or depression.

The protection will be provided by the consumer protection regulations that come into force on 26 May, which implement new pan-European rules on unfair commercial practices.

The scope of the legislation is deliberately wide and is the biggest shake up in consumer law for decades. It targets any unfair selling to consumers by any business. It is designed to …