Category: Consumer Protection

Scope The Consumer Rights Act applies to the whole of the United Kingdom.. Where the trader pursues or directs his activities in or to the United Kingdom or the consumer is originally resident in the UK, UK consumer protection law applies. It is not possible to contract out of most consumer protection. The consumer provisions […]

Rights & Remedies The consumer has a number of rights in the event of a breach of the implied terms and conditions in the contract for the sale of goods. See the separate article on the implied terms and conditions on the sale of which are mandatory and cannot be contracted out. In this context, […]

Use of Measures in Trade No person shall use for trade any unit of measurement not set out in the schedule to the Weights and Measures Act (as amended from time to time). The linear, square, cubic, capacity measure so included shall be used. The use of a unit or capacity measure not specified for […]

Consumer Rights Directive The Consumer Rights Directive was implemented in the UK through the Consumer Contracts (Information Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regulations 2013. The regulations provide for information to be furnished to consumers in all types of contracts including distance on-premises and off-premises contracts and a right to withdraw from distance and off premises contracts.The […]

Advertising Codes Advertising is effectively controlled by Codes of Practice and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations requirements Codes of practice are self-regulating industry controls. In some cases, they have been adopted and are enforced by an independent regulator. The Advertising Standards Authority implemented the first British code of advertising practice in 1962. It […]

Implied Terms on the Sale of Goods The Sale of Goods Act provides rules which apply to contracts for the sale of goods.  In cases where a consumer is involved (a sale to a member of the public) there are certain rules which are mandatory and the parties cannot be “contracted out”.  This means that […]

Packaging, Labelling and Design There are general regulations in relation to fair trading which impact on the way products are packaged, labelled and presented. In addition there are specific rules that may apply to particular classes of product. The obligations at common law and under the Unfair Trading Regulations provide that business must not be […]

UCPD Regulations The Unfair Commercial Practice Regulations harmonise fair trading laws in the European Union member states so as to facilitate the functioning of the single market. The UCPD prohibits unfair business practices in all sectors. Misleading actions, omissions and aggressive commercial practices are deemed unfair practices. Practices include courses of conducts, representations and communications […]

General The General Product Safety Regulations imposes criminal sanctions on producers and suppliers of unsafe goods. This legislation supplements product liability and consumer protection legislation which gives consumers rights of compensation for damage caused and rights under sale contracts for faulty and unsafe products. It applies only to goods supplied in the course of a […]

Liability of Producers Producers of products have certain legal liabilities in relation to consumers.   Product liability legislation makes  provision in relation to dangerous or defective goods which cause damage or harm. Most goods and products are covered.  There is deemed to be a defect, if the safety of the product is not such as would […]

General Until recent times most control of the content of advertising was by way of voluntary self-regulatory codes.   The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations were implemented in England in 2008.  The Regulations, which derived from European Union Directives, modernised and updated the law on advertising.   The […]

General  Office of Fair Trading approved Codes of Practice are used in several business sectors in England and Wales. Voluntary Codes of Practice are promoted by Trade Bodies for promotional and quality purposes. Many voluntary codes have been approved by the OFT. The codes do not have the force of law but are binding on […]

Unsolicited Goods Sending unsolicited goods to consumers purporting to provide that the goods are deemed purchased unless the recipient replies within a set time is inertia selling. Inertia selling is the act of demanding immediate or deferred payment or the return or safekeeping of supplied by the trader but not solicited by the consumer. There […]