What you need to know about new regulations for consumer rights

Christina Nawrocki FCCA draws attention to regulatory changes that alter consumer rights in their contracts with traders.

Legislation in the form of “The Consumer Contract Regulations 2013” came into force on 13 June 2014 and has a significant impact on the contracts between traders and consumers.

If you own a business that sells to consumers through the following means then you need to undertand and adhere to:

• On-premises – such as in a shop
• Off-premises – that means away from the trader’s premises which can include the consumer’s home
• Distance contracts – online, via mail order and over the phone

You will be required to:

• Provide certain information about the goods/services on offer
• Include specific terms in your contracts with consumers
• Adhere to new cancellation periods

Why this was introduced?

The regulations were implemented as part of the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU to ensure consumer contracts are consistent across the whole European Union. It is argued that greater consistency in contracts across states will create a fairer trading platform and reduce transaction costs for cross border businesses.

What you need to consider

The key areas affecting your contracts and consumers rights are highlighted below. We have included links for you to access the additional regulatory information that you need to comply with:

• Specific information you need to provide to consumers before they are bound to any contract
• Conditions in relation to additional payments/charges
• Changes to charges for the use of credit cards
• Charges in relation to post-contract customer phone-lines
• An extension to the minimum cooling off period
• Cancellation forms and the rights and refunds consumers are entitled to
• Information on who pays for returning goods

The content of this post is up to date and relevant as at 19/06/2014.

Please be aware that information provided by this blog is subject to regular legal and regulatory change. We recommend that you do not take any information held within our website or guides (eBooks) as a definitive guide to the law on the relevant matter being discussed. We suggest your course of action should be to seek legal or professional advice where necessary rather than relying on the content supplied by the author(s) of this blog.