The criminal responsibility of the advertiser for misleading advertising in websites and electronic markets - an analytical study in the UAE Federal Consumer Protection Law No. (15) of 2020.

As misleading advertising and propaganda play a significant role in convincing, persuading, and attracting consumers to buy through misleading and deceptive commercial promotion, the provisions of Federal Law No. (15) of 2020 on Consumer Protection prohibits the advertiser, provider, and commercial agent from describing the product or service in a manner that contains incorrect or misleading advertisements. The study aimed to investigate misleading in commercial advertising and clarify the two elements of misleading advertising crime, physical and mental, forms of misleading digital advertising crime, and identify the responsibility and penalty for the misleading advertising crime in Federal Law No. (15) of 2020 on Consumer Protection. The study concluded with several results, most important of which: The UAE legislator accurately defined misleading advertising and considered that the promotion of fictitious prizes or discounts is a violation of the rule of misleading advertising, but it did not address the definition of misleading digital advertising, and the UAE legislator failed to specify the elements of advertising for goods and services that could mislead the consumer. The study concluded with numerous recommendations, including the development of a law that regulates advertisements in all of their forms, whether traditional or digital, including the Internet and smartphones, and the amendment of Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection to include commitments to the advertiser not to advertise goods or services unless specific conditions are met in the advertisement, as the law was devoid of any obligations on the advertiser.