This is why the Antitrust Authority unmasks the U-Mask
The Antitrust has initiated an investigation procedure on the companies U-Earth Biotech and Pure Air Zone Italy to contest the promotion and sale of U-Mask masks. All the details
Antitrust headlight on U-masks, those worn by Ferragnez and the protagonists of Formula 1.
According to the Antitrust Authority, the masks produced by the companies U-Earth Biotech and Pure Air Zone Italy do not have the advertised features and filtering capacity.
Let's go step by step.
THE INVESTIGATION
The Antitrust has initiated an investigation procedure against the companies U-Earth Biotech and Pure Air Zone Italy to contest the promotion and sale of “U-Mask” masks, the effectiveness of which would be emphasized.
THE SEARCHES
In order to ascertain illegal conduct, on February 15, 2021 the Authority conducted inspections at the offices of the two companies, in collaboration with the soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza.
MISLEADING AND AGGRESSIVE ADVERTISING
The two companies, according to the Antitrust Authority, have given rise to misleading and aggressive promotions, which exploit the current health emergency situation to induce the consumer to buy the advertised product at high prices. "The claims with which the companies would emphasize the effectiveness, in terms of prevention, of the masks in question appear to be able to deceive consumers, inducing them to purchase a product without the advertised features and filtering capacity, with consequent potential danger to health ”, reads a press release from Agcm.
THE PROTECTIVE EFFECTIVENESS
According to what is advertised, in fact, the U-Mask “is attributed a protective efficacy (for each filter) of 200 hours of actual use or one year”. A feature, however, "which would not be duly proven".
U-MASK IS A FIRST CLASS DEVICE
Not only. The mask, also for promotion, is compared to personal protective equipment (PPE) with, according to the website, "a higher efficiency, comparable to an FFP3". But "U-Mask – specifies the Authority – is not certified as PPE but is registered with the Ministry of Health as a" class I "medical device".
RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL
The two companies are also challenged "other omissions and ambiguities in the information on the site in relation to the right of withdrawal, the consumer's forum, the legal guarantee of conformity and the extra-judicial mechanism of complaint and appeal".
U-EARTH AND PRE AIR ZONE ITALY
The U-Earth startup was founded by Betta Maggio. Born in Italy, she was then transferred to London. The innovative company is active in the development, production and marketing of unique biotechnologies for the decontamination and treatment of air, water and soil in medical, industrial and commercial applications. With Covid-19, it has begun to produce over 20,000 masks a day in Italy.
The Italian headquarters of the English U-earth is Pure Air Zone Italy Srl.
THE INVESTIGATION OF THE MILAN PROSECUTOR
U-masks have already been in the spotlight in recent weeks. At the end of January, the Milan public prosecutor ordered the seizure of the masks in question to carry out analyzes on their effective filtering capacity.
The investigation, coordinated by the deputy prosecutors Tiziana Siciliano and Eugenio Fusco, we read in the recent Start Magazine article , started from "a complaint from a competing company, which also attached to the complaint the laboratory analyzes that would prove that the filtering of the biotech mask with the filter lasting 150-200 hours would actually be 70-80% compared to the officially declared 98-99% ”. To report the scam also Strip the news.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/ecco-perche-lantitrust-smaschera-le-mascherine-u-mask/ on Mon, 15 Feb 2021 14:14:39 +0000.