Sterra Tech apologises for misleading marketing practices

Sterra Tech falsely claimed about the quality of Singapore's tap water.

Sterra Tech Pte. Ltd. (Sterra) has publicly apologised and assured the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) that it will cease making false and misleading claims about the quality of Singapore’s tap water, according to a statement.

It also said that it will cease making related claims about its air and water purifiers. 

Earlier this year, CCCS launched an investigation under its fair trading laws following multiple complaints on an online advertisement by Sterra in February 2024, which falsel claimed that Singapore’s tap water is unsafe for direct consumption without being filtered using water purifiers sold by Sterra.

Sterra reportedly made other false and misleading representations on its website between February 2023 and March 2024, namely that: 

• False Country of Manufacture Claims: Three models of air purifiers sold by Sterra were made in Singapore when they were in fact made in China;
• Misleading “Korean” Labelling: Two models of Sterra’s water purifiers were marketed as “Korean” when they were neither sourced from nor manufactured in Korea, but were in fact manufactured in China; and
• False Discounts: The “usual” (i.e. pre-discount) prices that Sterra claimed for comparison with its discounted price were not genuine previous prices and, in fact, never offered to any customer. 

Sterra issued a formal apology and committed to several corrective measures to CCCS, such as to stop its unfair trade practices.

The company said that it will put in place an internal compliance policy to ensure that its marketing materials comply with fair trading laws and put up a public apology about its advertisement on its website and social media channels for 30 days. 

They will also cooperate with the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) and Singapore public agencies, including PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, to resolve all complaints by consumers and publish clarifications in relation to any advertisements that are found to be misleading by ASAS or the public agencies.

Sterra’s directors, Lim Liangzhi and Lim Wei Hou, have similarly given personal undertakings to CCCS that they will not engage in any unfair trade practice or facilitate Sterra to do so in the future.

CCCS said that it has accepted the undertakings and issued warnings to Sterra and its directors.