European Union. It is obviously an important area of general concern, for
a number of people. Consumers themselves are becoming much more
aware of their rights, and have come to expect extremely high standards in
this field compared with consumers in many other countries. Legal advice
is sought more readily than twenty years ago, especially since solicitors are
now allowed to advertise services (following the Courts and Legal Services
Act 1990), and there is much greater competition in the legal market place.
There is material freely available to advise people of their rights as citizens,
and these matters arise commonly in school education programmes.
On the other side of the coin, manufacturers are very conscious of the
high standards of production expected of them, and need to account and
plan for this. The more the consumer expects, the higher the price paid. On
the whole, the consumer is probably happy to pay a little more on the unit
price of an item, in the assurance of the right to a high quality product.
The media acts as a watchdog, to some extent, in the many consumer
programmes that have been broadcast over recent years. In addition,
consumers are also the voting public, so some issues may have some
political merit. Ultimately, we have a set of laws concerning individuals
who trade with businesses which now are of an extremely high calibre, and
although they may need fine tuning in individual cases, the statutes in this
area form a comprehensive package of protection for the consumer.
Summary
Consumer protection ensures support for a purchaser of a product or
service who lacks bargaining power. This is normally an individual buying
from a person in business.
Protection is available:
- through common law as cases arise in court
- through statute law, e.g. Sale of Goods Act 1979.
The contract
- Be clear about the formation requirements – see Part 1 of this book.
- Note the relationship between the parties – see Chapter 9 on privity of
contract. - Refer to Chapter 8 on exemption clauses (or exclusion clauses).
- Refer to Chapter 15 on remedies.
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