CA investigates: New laws to give consumers better protection

It will also be illegal if the consumer has to take any action that incurs a cost to claim the prize. Consumers are likely to be the ones alerting the authorities, such as Trading Standards or the Office of Fair Trading, if they feel this law has been breached in any way. However, traders, enforcers and the courts alike need some time to get to grips with the finer details of the new directive.

If anyone feels that a trader they are dealing with is in breach of the new law, they should contact Consumer Direct or their local Trading Standards Office for specific advice. A breach of these rules will, in many cases, be a criminal offence; in addition to a fine, directors and managers could also be imprisoned.

Read our comprehensive guide to consumer protection law.

Our verdict
Although there will be no excuse for companies not to abide by the new laws as soon as they are passed, it is likely there will be teething troubles. During a training session, there were a couple of points in the law that we felt could prove ambiguous if a consumer wanted to invoke them. Andrew Hadley of the Office of Fair Trading admitted the ones we chose were not entirely clear.

He said that, as with any new rules, and especially with the broad scope of the CPRs, there are some legal grey areas. It may be that there are a few false starts before clarification, as some of the legal concepts are new to UK law and enforcers must get to grips with them. Ultimately it will be up to the courts to decide if a commercial practice is unfair under the CPRs.

However the new regulations give consumers better protection overall against rogue traders and make it clearer to businesses what their responsibilities are.