News Dog-breeding laws to be tightened Tougher dog-breeding licensing rules for better protection of thousands of puppies are to be introduced as part of a swathe of reforms to safeguard the welfare of Britains pets The plans to tighten up laws around selling pets and breeding dogs will make it illegal to sell puppies younger than eight weeks. Anyone breeding and selling three or more litters of puppies a year will also have to apply for a formal licence. Smaller establishments, as well as larger commercial breeders, will need to meet strict welfare criteria to get a licence. Breeders who dont stick to these rules face an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison. The law will be updated so anyone trading in pets online will need to be licensed, to help make reputable sellers easily accessible to prospective buyers. The plans also cover how pet shops, boarding houses and riding stables are licensed, and will introduce a single animal activities licence to improve the process and make enforcement easier. Dogs Trust veterinary director Paula Boyden said: We are particularly pleased that it will be illegal to sell a puppy below the age of eight weeks and that there will be tighter licensing rules, which willrequire sellers of pets to display their licence when advertising. Wealso applaud the move towards a risk-based single licensing system. We believe local authority inspectors need support to enforce these tighter licensing rules. As such, moves to mandate the use of model conditions and for inspectors to be offered training and for standards to be set are most welcome. The Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, said: We are cracking down on the worst offenders by strengthening the dog-breeding licence and giving councils the power they need to take action. tescos not-so-special offers multi-buy promotions were marked on the shelf for days, weeks and in some cases months after the deductions were no longer being applied at tills. When Gibson told customerservice staff at a store in Dudley that two offers had not gone through, the staff member was filmed replying: The labels are actually out of date; ones nearly a month out of date, the other ones three weeks out of date. At another store, a member of staff blamed the expired offers on them being short-staffed. Tesco said it would double-check the accuracy of pricing at all of its stores. Istock.com/vEronAA An undercover reporter for BBCs Inside Out has exposed Tesco stores for short-changing customers by not honouring expired but still advertised promotion prices, unless customers pointed out the error. Jonathan Gibson visited 50 out of 3,500 Tesco UK stores over a threemonth period and, in 33 of them, New UK-Japan consumer complaints service launches UK consumers who have complaints against a trader based in Japan can now make contact with a new cross-border complaints service aimed at resolving international issues. The service gives advice and support to consumers who experience a problem when buying goods or services from businesses in Japan. Run by CTSI and the National Consumer Affairs Centre (NCAC) of Japan, the reciprocal agreement will also handle cases from consumers based in Japan with complaints against UK traders. The pilot scheme was launched in February and will run for a period of 12 months. It builds on CTSIs success as the host for the UKEuropean Consumer Centre, which dealt with 12,985 cases in 2015. Leon Livermore, CTSI chief executive, said: Many businesses operate online and trade overseas, but this makes it increasingly difficult for consumers when something goes wrong. Making sure businesses trade fairly and comply with the law is a key priority for our institute. The new service demonstrates our commitment to delivering global consumer protection and, ultimately, strengthens ties with our counterparts in other countries. Consumers in the UK who have an issue with a trader in Japan can contact the service and pass details of their complaint to a consumer adviser, who will look into the case and pass it on to the NCAC. Likewise, those based in Japan with a complaint against a UK trader can contact the NCAC and the case will be referred to CTSI. NCAC has been handling consumer complaints since 1970 and works closely with the national and local governments of Japan. Tsuneo Matsumoto, president of NCAC, said: I hope the alliance between CTSI and the NCAC will be helpful for resolving cross-border consumer complaints and making further progress on consumer protection in both countries. which? alert on cheap data selling Consumers sensitive personal and financial information is being sold for as little as 4p a record, according to an investigation by Which? The finding strengthens the consumer champions campaign for government to take further action on nuisance calls. The alarming results uncovered by Which? show how easy it is for potential nuisance callers and would-be scammers to obtain sensitive data. Researchers posing as a dodgy firm intending to contact people about early pension releases a common pension scam investigated 14 dataselling companies, and were able to order forms or invoices from 10 firms contacted. One company issued an invoice for nearly 500,000 pieces of personal information at just 4p each, of people with a household income of 40,000+, including phone numbers and addresses. Many companies appeared to be in breach of the Information Commissioners Office guidance on the consent consumers give to have their details shared.