U-Mask, fines of 450 thousand euros from Antitrust

Mascherine U-Mask, the Antitrust fines the companies U-Earth Biotech Ltd. and Pure Air Zone Italy srl. According to the Authority, they wrongly equated U-Masks with Ffp3 devices, as well as boasting “a non-existent approval from the Ministry of Health”. The Antitrust Authority has concluded an investigation procedure against the companies U-Earth Biotech Ltd. and Pure Air Zone Italy Srl, imposing fines for a total amount of 450,000 euros. This was announced in a press release. For over a year, the two companies, according to the note, have been promoting biotech surgical masks “U-Mask” (in the versions “Model 2”, “Model 2.1” and “Model 2.2”), “registered as doctors, improperly equating them with filtering facepieces of superior protective efficacy, such as personal protective equipment of class Ffp3, and attributing to them additional qualities, for example virucidal properties and a duration of 200 hours, certified on the basis of tests carried out independently “. Furthermore, until the end of February 2021, the general contract conditions were available only in English and a non-existent approval of the mask was claimed by the Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health. According to the Competition and Market Authority, this is “a practice carried out in a deceptive and aggressive manner, as it is susceptible, on the one hand, to deceive consumers about the effective protective capacity of the mask, endangering the their health and, on the other hand, to leverage the health emergency situation to unduly induce the latter to purchase the product “. Also until the end of last February, the two companies did not comply with the regulations on pre-contractual information for the consumer in distance contracts, not providing the required indications regarding the methods of exercising the consumer’s right of withdrawal, the legal guarantee of compliance and the possibility of using an extra-judicial complaint and appeal mechanism. “Considering the severity and duration of the violations of the Consumer Code and also the high number of consumers involved due to the use of the internet, the Authority has imposed jointly and severally on U-Earth Biotech Ltd. and Pure Air Zone Italy Srl administrative sanctions equal to 400,000 euros for unfair commercial practices and 50,000 euros for unlawful conduct inherent to consumer rights in contracts “specifies the Antitrust Authority.