Building insulation manufacturer ordered to pay 858.242 euros for false advertising and deception

This conviction was made on the grounds of the claims made by the company ATI concerning four of its insulating products, which were deemed to constitute deception and false advertising due to the communication of erroneous thermal resistance values.

Background to the dispute

Since 2017, ATI has been reporting inconsistent data to the public regarding the thermal resistance of its insulation. In response, the SFIRMM, in its mission to defend the interests of the professional sector, particularly aimed at combating practices likely to discredit all reflective insulation, has repeatedly informed all professionals by means of press releases about ATI's inaccurate communications, mainly regarding its ATI MFPRO insulation.

In 2019, in response to the alerts issued by the Union, the ATI company sued the SFIRMM as well as the companies ACTIS and ITR ISO 2000 for denigration.

SFIRMM, ACTIS and ITR ISO 2000 took this opportunity to file counterclaims before the Judicial Court so that ATI could be convicted of false and misleading communications on the thermal resistance of 4 of its products.

Inaccurate communications from ATI Company

To justify the thermal performance of the disputed products, the method used by ATI FRANCE consisted of using two test reports, produced by two different bodies accredited to carry out tests according to standard EN 16012 + A1:

• a report produced by the VTT laboratory (Finland)
• a report produced by the KTU laboratory (Lithuania)

The company ATI FRANCE presented the first report produced by the VTT laboratory as being the report defining the intrinsic thermal resistance of the insulation (without air gap), even though the thermal resistance measured by the VTT laboratory was that of "the complete wall" including two non-ventilated air gaps.

The ATI FRANCE company then asked the KTU laboratory to carry out another test to calculate and assess the thermal resistance of two air blades.

The manipulation carried out by ATI FRANCE consisted of aggregating the two ratios (VTT + KTU) to increase the thermal resistance of its insulation, ultimately counting four air gaps instead of two.

The result of these manipulations allowed ATI to declare increased thermal resistances, in this case, for ATI MFPRO, by more than 65%. These practices were deemed to constitute deception and false advertising, thus establishing moral prejudice for SFIRMM, and material prejudice for the companies ACTIS and ITR ISO 2000, due to the unfair competition resulting from these practices.

Judgment delivered by the Paris judicial court on September 24, 2024

After more than 5 years of proceedings, the company ATI FRANCE was found guilty of misleading commercial practices by communicating false thermal resistance values.

In summary, here is an extract from the operative part of the judgment rendered by the Paris Judicial Court:

• DISMISSES all of ATI FRANCE’s claims,
• ORDERS ATI FRANCE to pay SFIRMM the sum of 20.000 euros in damages due to the damage to its image resulting from the procedures used;
• ORDERS ATI FRANCE to pay ITR ISO 2000 the sum of 753.242,49 euros for loss of gross margin;
• ORDERS ATI FRANCE to pay each of ACTIS and ITR ISO 2000 the sum of 20.000 euros in compensation for their moral prejudice;
• CONDEMNS the company ATI FRANCE to remove the following information from all advertisements, catalogues and the website www.ati-isol.com:
  • for the MFPRO product all references to an “intrinsic R of 2m2.K/W and an overall R between 2 air gaps of 3m2.K/W” and this under penalty of 200 euros per day of delay after a period of one month following the service of the judgment;
  • for the THERMO BULLES product all references to an “intrinsic R of 1,61m2.K/W and an R between 2 air gaps of 2,67m2.K/W”; And this under penalty of 200 euros per day of delay after a period of one month following the notification of the judgment
• ORDERS ATI FRANCE to pay ACTIS, ITR ISO 2000, BRICO DÉPOT and SFIRMM the sum of 15.000 euros each pursuant to Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure;
• ORDERS ATI FRANCE to pay the costs which will be recovered by the lawyers in the case in accordance with Article 699 of the Code of Civil Procedure;

ATI FRANCE has decided not to appeal this decision, so the sentences handed down are now final.