New Consumer Rights Bill will affect businesses

The Government is introducing new legislation designed to clarify the rights of consumers and businesses.

Ministers say the Consumer Rights Bill will streamline complicated legal issues currently contained in eight different sets of regulations.

Under the draft Bill consumers will have the right to:

• get some money back after one failed repair of faulty goods (or one faulty replacement)
• demand that substandard services are redone or failing that get a price reduction
• get a repair or a replacement of faulty digital content such as film and music downloads, online games and e-books.

The draft Bill also proposes a set 30-day time period for when consumers can return faulty goods and get a full refund.

Consumer Minister Jo Swinson said: “For too long the rules that apply when buying goods and services have been murky for both consumers and businesses. The situation is even worse in relation to digital content.

“It is about time consumers knew what their rights are and businesses have clearer information on what is expected of them when problems inevitably do arise. We want to make sure consumers are confident about their rights in everyday situations be it their washing machine breaking down or an online game they purchased always crashing.”

We shall keep clients informed of developments.