The Fair Trading Act 1986 is one of the cornerstones of our consumer protection law. It protects you against being misled or treated unfairly by traders or shops by prohibiting what is called "misleading or deceptive conduct, false representations and unfair practices".

The Act also sets out when information about certain products must be disclosed to consumers, and helps ensure products are safe.

The Act applies to everyone in trade. As well as traders and shops, the Act covers government agencies and state-owned enterprises. Most of the Act does not cover private sales.

The difference between the Fair Trading Act (FTA) and the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) is that, in general, the FTA covers claims about products and services prior to sale and the CGA covers the quality of those products and services after they have been bought.