News New Food Crime Unit to be established for Scotland A new Scottish Food Crime and Incident Unit (SFCIU) is to be set up by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) to tackle food fraud. At a meeting in September, the FSS Board agreed that the unit would be responsible for surveillance and detection of fraud and deliberate non-compliance within the food chain. It is being set up as a result of the recommendations of the Scudamore Expert Advisory Group, which was established by Scottish ministers in February 2013 in the wake of the horsemeat scandal. The unit will also have the power to take enforcement action where necessary, although primary responsibility for dealing with food fraud at a local level will remain with local authorities and where serious organised crime is involved the investigation will be referred to the police for further action. Geoff Ogle, chief executive of FSS, said: Since Food Standards Scotland was created as the new public food body for Scotland, weve been working to develop and establish the new unit. The unit is a vital and positive step in improving Scotlands capability and capacity in relation to tackling food crime. Information-sharing remains critical to unearthing and dealing with food fraud, and we continue to work closely with a number of partners both in Scotland and across the UK including Police Scotland, local authorities, the Food Standards Agency, and the food industry itself. The new unit will develop its capability over the coming months, and Food Standards Scotland is currently recruiting for additional specialists to add to the existing incidents team within the organisation. New pricing guidelines published examples of pricing and promotional practices with the potential to confuse or mislead, the problem was not found to be widespread across the whole sector. CTSI is now inviting submissions from consumer groups, enforcers, retailers, trade associations and other interested parties, to comment on the draft. The guide is intended to create a framework for all consumerfacing businesses to trade products and services fairly, rather than being focused on one sector. The proposed guidelines, which will replace the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills 2010 guide, were drafted at its behest as part of CTSIs role in educating businesses. Download the draft guidelines, or email ppgreview@tsi.org.uk for more information. The closing date for responses is January 5, 2016. IDEA STORE / SHUTTERSTOCK The first draft of CTSIs Pricing Practices Guide has been published, following the Competition and Market Authoritys (CMA) recommendation that the guide be updated to help address grocery pricing. Which? made a super complaint to the CMA earlier this year, when it called for an end to retailers using misleading pricing tactics. The CMA responded in the summer, saying that while its investigation had found 20m lost by UK bankers in cyber crime sting UK Consumers are estimated to have lost 20m from their bank accounts after a signicant strain of malicious malware targeted UK banks, says the National Crime Agency. Dridex malware, also known as Bugat and Cridex, has been developed by technically skilled cyber criminals in Eastern Europe to harvest online banking details, which are then exploited to steal money from individuals and businesses around the world. Global nancial institutions and a variety of different payment systems have been particularly targeted, with UK losses estimated at 20m. Some members of the public may also have unwittingly become victims of the Dridex malware, and the National Crime Agency is encouraging all internet users to ensure they have up-to-date operating systems and anti-virus software installed on their machines, to protect themselves from further cyber crime attacks. Computers become infected with Dridex malware when users receive and open documents in seemingly legitimate emails. The NCA assesses that there could be thousands of infected computers in the UK, the majority being Windows users. Users are urged to visit the Cyber StreetWise and GetSafeOnline websites, where a number of anti-virus tools are available to download to help clean up infected machines and get advice and guidance on how to protect themselves in the future. The NCA is conducting activity to sinkhole the malware, stopping a number of infected computers known as a botnet from communicating with the cyber criminals controlling them. This activity is in conjunction with a US sinkhole, currently being undertaken by the FBI. The agencys National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) has rendered a large portion of the botnet harmless and are now initiating remediation activity to safeguard victims. This activity is part of a sustained and ongoing campaign targeting multiple versions of Dridex and the cyber criminals behind it, who operate in hard-to-reach parts of the world. If any internet users think they have lost money through malware such as Dridex, they should report their concerns to Action Fraud and alert their respective banks. New website to help fight scams The UK European Consumer Centre has welcomed plans to help lawenforcement authorities from around the world to spot trends and work together to prevent international scams. The UKs Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that an improved website has been unveiled to help law enforcement authorities gather and share crossborder consumer complaints. The website has been launched by consumer protection agencies from 34 countries and will be used to take action against unlawful practices. The news comes after the countries all part of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) joined the US Federal Trade Commissionled project to develop the improved version of econsumer.gov Consumers who have encountered a problem that crosses national borders are being encouraged to fill in a complaint form on econsumer.gov The website, available in eight languages, is also on tablets and smartphones. These complaints are shared between participating consumer protection agencies around the world to help them spot trends and work together. Consumer complaints filed through econsumer.gov are entered into a secure database and shared with consumer protection law enforcers. MAOYUNPING / SHUTTERSTOCK Nearly 90 per cent of convenience stores complying with new tobacco display ban A rapid review of how businesses are coping with new tobacco display laws has found nearly 90 per cent are complying despite fears it would sound the death knell for small shops. In the run-up to new legislation being introduced, the tobacco industry-funded campaign group, Tobacco Retailers Alliance (TRA), voiced concerns in a number of print and broadcast media about the installation costs of covering shop gantries, and longer transaction times. The TRA suggested a ban would be difcult to enforce, and was behind the Save Our Shop campaign, which ultimately resulted in an Early Day Motion requesting that any display ban be evidence based. The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) also ran a highprole campaign against the tobacco display ban, claiming that it would put thousands of small shopkeepers out of business. The Guardian later accused the tobacco industry of bankrolling the campaign. However, the rapid review has found, in nearly 600 compliance visits to small businesses conducted by trading standards across England in July and August, that nearly 90 per cent were fully compliant with the new regulations. Introduced on 6 April 2015, The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display) Regulations 2010 and The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display of Pricing) (England) Regulations 2010 ban tobacco products in small businesses from being stored in public view, except in limited circumstances. These regulations have been in force for large businesses since 2012. Commissioned by the Department of Health and produced by CTSI, the report, Rapid Review of Compliance with Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Display) Regulations (2010) in small business premises, found that compliance was broadly similar across both urban and rural areas. The majority of businesses visited received guidance about the change in the law. Mostly, this came from their tobacco industry representative, while advice from a local authority ranked second. In terms of covering their gantries, most businesses received assistance from the tobacco industry. However, more unusual do-ityourself solutions concocted included vertical blinds, ags and even shower curtains used to hide tobacco products from view. The data obtained will be included in the National Tobacco Control Survey for 2015-16.