Trade Advice Document

Membership logos and claims of approval

Ensure you are entitled to use a membership or 'approved by' logo before doing so

This guidance is for England, Scotland and Wales

Logos denoting membership of, or approval by, an organisation may be legitimately used by businesses. However, their misuse, deliberate or otherwise, can result in a commercial advantage, enabling work to be acquired unfairly, and may constitute a breach of the law.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) specifically ban businesses from displaying any form of trust mark, quality mark or equivalent if they are not authorised to do so. It is also a breach of the Regulations to provide false or deceptive information.

WHICH BUSINESSES USE LOGOS?

Many sectors of commerce and trade promote their activities by using logos. Examples exist of logos used by the building industry, motoring organisations, professions, retail trade federations, finance and insurance services, tourism, catering industries, plumbers, and electricians.

WHAT DO LOGOS CONVEY TO CUSTOMERS?

Any business using a logo representing membership or approval encourages a potential customer to assume a benefit arising from one or more of the following:

approval of a standard of service
training or qualification of company personnel
compliance with rules or codes of conduct
existence of complaints / arbitration procedures
commitments to be 'fair traders' or approved by well-known organisations such as councils, governments, etc

HOW ARE LOGOS USED?

Logos are used in a variety of different ways, including being displayed on or in:

business / company premises, hoardings, banners, vehicles and clothing
business / company letterheads and other stationery
trade and consumer brochures and leaflets
advertisements published in newspapers or telephone and trade directories
advertisements / promotional videos that appear on television or online
business / company websites

THE LAW

If invalid at the time, the use of a logo in any of the above circumstances would breach the CPRs. See 'Protection from unfair trading' for further information on these Regulations.

The CPRs specifically ban businesses from displaying any form of trust mark, quality mark or equivalent if they are not authorised to do so. They also ban any form of claim that a business, or their service, has been approved, authorised or endorsed by a public or private body when it hasn't (therefore, written claims that are untrue are also prohibited). They also ban a business from claiming to be a signatory to a code of conduct if the business is not a member / signatory.

It is a breach of the Regulations generally to provide false or deceptive information that leads consumers to enter into contracts they would not otherwise have entered into - for example, a consumer contracting with a business only because they saw the logo of a trade association and therefore thought they would have additional protection if something went wrong.

Particular care should be taken in the use of the Gas Safe logo. The Gas Safe Register is the only gas engineer registration scheme approved by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Under these Regulations, all gas engineers wanting to lawfully undertake domestic and certain other gas work in Great Britain must be registered with this scheme.

You should also be aware that if you advertise to other businesses, the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 make it an offence to deliberately mislead a business. There are also rules in these Regulations regarding comparative advertising. See 'Business-to-business marketing' for more information.

If you are not sure whether any of your advertising or marketing material breaches the above legislation, you should seek advice from your local Trading Standards service. Ideally, this should be done before publication.

SPECIFIC PRECAUTIONS FOR BUSINESSES

When applying for membership or approval of an organisation, businesses are advised that they should not start to use any logo until authorised to do so by the organisation. Care should be taken when membership or approval of a business ceases, arising in particular from:

any lapse of membership
notification or cancellation by an organisation for any reason, such as a failure to meet standards or other requirements

Businesses should be particularly careful when:

using stationery, websites, publications, premises, etc
providing advertising agencies with copy, or authorising them to use it

It is the responsibility of businesses to ensure that no invalid claims of membership or approval are made (whether made themselves or on their behalf, including by advertising agencies).

ORAL STATEMENTS

Statements do not have to be in writing in order to breach the law. Any false or deceptive statements concerning the membership or approval of a business made by businesses or their staff would breach the CPRs.

TRADING STANDARDS

For more information on the work of Trading Standards services - and the possible consequences of not abiding by the law - please see 'Trading Standards: powers, enforcement and penalties'.

IN THIS UPDATE

No major changes.

Last reviewed / updated: May 2024

Key legislation

Please note

This information is intended for guidance; only the courts can give an authoritative interpretation of the law.

The guide's 'Key legislation' links may only show the original version of the legislation, although some amending legislation is linked to separately where it is directly related to the content of a guide. Information on changes to legislation can be found on each link's 'More Resources' tab.

The county council is not responsible for this information.