MPH Imposes Fine of Approximately 53 Million Drams on Globbing for Misleading Practices

The Competition Protection Commission (CPC) has imposed a fine of approximately 53 million drams on Globbing for unfair competition manifesting in misleading the public.

The Commission has held Global Shipping LLC responsible due to instances of misleading advertising. Specifically, the Commission noted that while Globbing advertised a timeframe of '5-10 working days' for air shipments from China to Armenia, between January 1, 2022, and April 25, 2023, at least 26% of these shipments were delivered beyond the declared maximum timeframe.

Moreover, while setting the '5-10 working days' timeframe on its main website, Globbing simultaneously indicated in the 'General Terms and Conditions' section that the stated delivery times are conditional and that Globbing bears no responsibility for their violation. This points to conflicting terms presented across different sections of the website.

The Commission also examined the delivery timeframe statements on the websites of several international companies (www.fedex.com, www.dhl.com, www.ebay.com), the practices of competition authorities in Georgia and Poland, as well as the institute known as 'dark pattern', which encompasses situations where delivery times are presented to consumers in a misleading manner.