Government needs your feedback on proposals for ‘Consumer Bill of Rights’

The government is proposing a ‘Consumer Bill of Rights’ to assist customers in challenging businesses when they buy poor quality goods, services or digital content. It wants your views on how to make it work for both businesses and consumers.

With UK consumer law complex and difficult for consumers and businesses to understand, the plan is to set out in one place a clear code of shopping rights and simple standardised remedies for when things go wrong. It hopes that businesses will benefit from the simplified set of rules, which are intended to clear up customer issues more quickly.

The proposed changes are intended to:

• Clarify the nature of consumers’ rights and remedies in relation to the supply of goods, which is currently an area where the law is unnecessarily complex.

• Bring the services regime more in line with the regime for goods, by strengthening consumer rights and remedies in relation to faulty services. The changes proposed include establishing a statutory guarantee and statutory remedies when the rights are breached, and the consultation also asks whether there should be a new legal right to certain services being judged on their outcome, rather than the way they are performed.

• Modernise the law on digital content to protect consumers, by establishing a clear digital content regime with its own tailored set of rights and associated remedies. Most consumer law was written about thirty years ago and does not clearly cover digital content like music, software or games so consumers are poorly protected by the law.

BWF Policy Executive, Matt Mahony, commented on the plans;

“Even the most diligent businesses can struggle to avoid disputes with customers, so we strongly urge you to feedback your views through the consultation. It is vital that businesses respond if the government is to achieve its aim of reducing misunderstandings and closing the door to vexatious complainants.

The consultation also represents an opportunity for you as a consumer to air your grievances relating to contracts and disputes you have been involved in where you feel that law has offered you poor protection. Consumers have less statutory protection when they buy an inadequate service than when they purchase inadequate goods, so you could consider examples of where you have been tied into a long term contract that a service provider has failed to adequately deliver.”

The consultation is broken down into 3 parts – goods, services, and digital content – and runs until 5th October 2012. It is exceptionally easy to respond to and can be found here https://discuss.bis.gov.uk/consumer-bill-of-rights/

Members are reminded that they can receive contractual advice through the BWF via our publications and legal & contractual helpline.