Law Commission to launch public consultation on unfair trading law

Consumers can play as important a role as businesses and organisations in helping shape consumer law on unfair trading the Law Commission of England and Wales has said.

The independent statutory body which keeps the law under review and recommends reform believes that there are serious loopholes in the Consumer Protection Regulations (CPRs).

Last October, it proposed simplifying this law, which governs misleading and unfair sales practices and introducing a way of letting people take direct action against companies that have ripped them off.

Currently if a trader is found guilty of a breach of the CPRs, only the OFT and Trading Standards can take criminal or civil actions against the company.

After publishing a report in October last year, the Law Commission will launch its public consultation on 12 April.

"The consultation period is for the public. "We really want to hear what people's experiences are and what they think.

"We welcome individual responses just as much as trade bodies and consumer organisations. In a nutshell, we take the view that the private law in this area is not fit for purpose when it comes to consumers.

"We propose to simplify the legal rules that apply to misleading and aggressive practices affecting consumers. We also propose a new scheme of consumer remedies, including possibly some form of private redress and ways to make the outcomes more predictable and easier to understand," a representative of the Law Commission told us.

However, the Law Commission said that people have to take some responsibility for themselves.

"It is not the role of the law to protect consumers from all the bad bargains they may make. The challenge will be to achieve an appropriate balance ...."

The consultation will run for three months and a final report published next year in March