Briefing Note – for businesses engaged in distance selling
The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000
The Regulations
The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (the “Regulations”) concern any business which sells goods and/or services to consumers online or by any other means of distance selling, i.e. sales not including face to face contact with the consumer, e.g. sales concluded by telephone or email.
A distance selling contract which does not comply with the Regulations shall be automatically void and the contract will not be enforceable against a consumer.
Purpose of the Regulations
The purpose of the Regulations is twofold, namely:
- to give confidence to consumers who buy goods and/or services where they have no face to face contact with the seller;
- and to ensure that all businesses carrying out distance selling in the normal course of their business meet certain requirements.
By Sarah Railton
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- 0113 220 6277
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When do the Regulations apply?
The Regulations apply to “distance contacts”. These are contracts:
- for the sale of goods or the provision of services;
- which are concluded between the supplier and a consumer (business to business distance selling is not caught by the Regulations);
- which are under an organised distance sales or service provision scheme run by the supplier (e.g. sales made via a website); and
- where the supplier communicates with the consumer without ever coming face to face with the consumer in concluding the contract (i.e. by ‘distance communication’). Distance communication includes communication through web pages, email, letters, over the telephone (with or without human intervention) and the television.
(Section 3(1) of the Regulations).
Exceptions
It is important to note that the Regulations do not apply to all distance contracts. Examples of excepted contracts are contracts for the sale or transfer of land, contracts for the supply of financial services and contracts concluded at auction (Section 5(1) (a), (c) and (f) of the Regulations).
Requirements
Provide prior information!
The Regulations require that suppliers must provide certain clear information to consumers in writing prior to the conclusion of the contract. Examples of the type of information which must be provided are:
- the supplier’s identity including sufficient detail for consumers to be able to identify the business they are dealing with;
- a description of the main characteristics of the goods or services the supplier is offering;
- details of any delivery costs;
- the arrangements for delivery or performance of the services; and
- information about a consumers’ right to cancel, where applicable;
(Sections 7(1)(a) (i)-(ix), 7(1)(b) and 7(1) (c) of the Regulations).
This information can be provided in a supplier’s terms and conditions.
Performance of the contract
Unless the supplier agrees otherwise with the consumer, the Regulations require that the supplier must perform the contract within 30 days beginning from the day after the consumer sent his order for goods and/or services to the supplier (Section 19(1) of the Regulations).
Consumer’s right to cancel
Subject to certain exceptions, provided the consumer complies with certain requirements, the consumer can cancel a distance contract at any time during the cancellation period, which is also known as the ‘cooling-off period’ (Section 10(1) of the Regulations).
Cancellation period for goods
- The cancellation period will end 7 working days beginning from the day after which the consumer received the goods, provided that the consumer has been given the information required to be given by the supplier to the consumer by the Regulations before or at the time of delivery of the goods.
- The cancellation period will be longer if the required information has not been provided to the consumer at this time (Section 11 of the Regulations).
Cancellation period for services
- The cancellation period will end 7 working days beginning from the day after which the contract for services is concluded, provided that the consumer has been given the information required to be given by the supplier to the consumer by the Regulations on or before conclusion of the contract for services.
- The cancellation period will be longer if the required information has not been provided to the consumer at this time (Section 12 of the Regulations).
A contract which is cancelled must be treated as if it had never been entered into by the consumer.
It is important to note that there are certain circumstances in which a consumer will not have a right to cancel, for example where personalised goods are delivered under the contract (Regulation 13 of the Regulations).
Refund consumers within a certain period of time
On cancellation of a contract, any sum paid by the consumer to the supplier must be repaid by the supplier as soon as possible and, in any case, within 30 days of cancellation of the contract. The full price for the goods must be refunded and this includes the cost of delivery of the goods to the consumer.
Enforcement and Sanctions
The Regulations are enforced by the Office of Fair Trading and Local Authority Trading Standards Services. These bodies have the power to consider any complaints and seek court orders for compliance with the Regulations.
For More information Contact Sarah Railton
Tel: 0113 220 6277