19 May 2014

Distance and Internet Selling - The Rules are Changing from 13 June 2014

If you sell goods or services to Consumers over the Internet, by telephone or door to door then there are new rules that apply to you and your business.

From 13 June 2014 The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 come into full force.

These new regulations replace the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and Legislation on door to door selling, the Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer's Home or Place of Work Regulations 2008.

BPIF Commercial Solicitor Nicola Langley advises that most websites selling to Consumers will need to be changed and their Terms and Conditions of Sale updated to reflect the new Regulations.

Anyone familiar with the old rules will know that Consumers have a right to cancel an order made at a distance, the new rules provide that the cancellation period will increase from 7 working days to fourteen days. If you fail to inform your Consumer customers of their right to cancel - then under the new rules they will have a whole year to cancel the contract. Therefore it is vitally important that you get the wording right in your Terms and Conditions.

The new Regulations also set out a list of the information that you must give to your customers before the contract is formed, and prescriptive rules about the passing of risk in the goods and the time for delivery.

One of the most important changes is that your obligation to provide the information set out in the Regulations will now become a term of the contract, so a failure to comply with the Regulations will also be a breach of contract, allowing your customers to claim contractual damages.

The new Regulations are complex and need to be considered in addition to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which remain in force, and the Consumer Rights Bill which is currently going through Parliament.

If you require further information on selling to Consumers please contact Nicola Langley at BPIF Legal.