Government fights plan to weaken consumer rights

The UK Government will fight proposals by the European Commission’s to weaken certain rights that are currently enjoyed by UK consumers.

Under the planned EU Consumer Rights Directive, the right to reject faulty goods currently given to people in the UK would be taken away; allowing retailers to choose to repair or replace goods instead.

The Government ran a consultation process to find out what the views of industry and consumers were about the proposed changes. It has now published its views and said it wants to fight for UK consumers' refund rights.

It is also creating a new Consumer Rights Bill which it said goes further in giving consumers protection than the proposed EU directive will.

In a statement the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) formerly the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) said: “We remain concerned that the Commission’s proposal on consumer remedies for faulty goods would result in a significant reduction in consumer protection.

"We will continue to work to secure an amendment to the directive to allow the 'right to reject' to be retained in the UK."

This position was backed up by the House of Lords, which said it should not support a directive that erodes UK consumers’ rights.

The EU directive which has also concerned Consumer Focus, is an attempt to 'fully harmonise' consumer rights across member states. All countries would have to adopt its provisions and ensure that its own laws did not conflict with it.

This would mean rights given under laws such as the UK Sale of Goods Act which allows people to reject faulty goods within a reasonable time and get a full refund if they wish would have to be scrapped.

The consumer watchdog told Computeractive earlier in the year that this proposition would not be acceptable and it would lobby against any such move. The Government said was 'optimistic' about changing the Commission's mind about its proposed new EU law the Consumer Rights Directive.

A statement from BIS said that it “hoped not only to secure the UK's right to give its consumers the right to reject, but that it would argue for making that compulsory across the EU.

"[We will explore] the possibility of introducing a fully harmonised 'right to reject' which will be available to consumers across the EU. We are optimistic that we will be able to achieve a satisfactory solution."

The House of Lords' European Union Committee has backed the Government position in its own report, which says that the UK should not agree to a proposed directive that erodes consumer rights. It also said that it did not believe that harmonisation of consumer law across the EU would necessarily boost cross-border retail trade as the Commission desires.

"We … recommend that the protection offered by the existing directives covere d in this proposal should be taken as the base upon which to build," said the Lords report. "We consider it of utmost importance that the overall level of protection afforded to consumers should not be reduced."

The Government said that as well as enshrining the right to reject faulty goods, it wanted the Commission to change the proposed directive so that consumers and not businesses could choose what action to take.

The Government also insisted that there should be clarity about any automatically unfair contract terms named in the law.