Consumer Rights Act 2015 – legal changes for businesses to consider

Consumer Rights Act 2015 and when it comes into force

The Consumer Rights Act applies to contracts and notices between a ‘trader’ and a ‘consumer’. 01 October 2015 is when the majority of the Act’s provisions are expected to come into force and the intention is to make compliance with consumer protection laws much easier by the consolidation of eight pieces of separate legislation in this area into a single piece of legislation.

Examples of some of the changes that the Act brings in

• Implied contract terms which cannot be excluded in relation to consumer contracts for goods, digital content and services are clearly set out by the Act.
• Tiered remedies are set out in relation to breach of statutory implied terms.
• Digital Content – the Act is the first piece of legislation to regulate the supply of digital content as such. Generally, the supply of digital content is treated in much the same way as the supply of goods in that it must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and conform with the description provided by the trader.
• Unfair contract terms – in consumer contracts, existing consumer legislation has been consolidated and aims to clarify the law. Conflicting overlaps between the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 have been removed.  Provisions cover both ‘consumer contracts’ and ‘consumer notices’ (which may be either written or oral meaning that renewal notices and customer promotions will therefore be caught by this legislation).

How it may affect you and your business

Consumer facing businesses will need to review their:

• sales lifecycle;
• terms and conditions of sale (including standard website and app terms and conditions);
• limitation of liability clauses to check compliance and references to legislation;
• pre-contractual information (including renewal notices and customer promotions); and
• cancellation and returns policies.

The Act makes changes to contractual relationships and affects how products should be offered to consumers.

We can assist with providing you with a review of your contracting processes and documents and other communications to ensure that they comply with the changes brought in by new legislation. If you would like to know more please get in touch with me on the details below.