Partner Article

At last, legislation to make British business feel good!

At last, a European-inspired piece of draft legislation that we can all feel good about, businesses and consumers alike, writes Shayda Youssefian.

The Consumer Rights Bill aims to reform and, most importantly, consolidate consumer law in the UK. This is great news for consumers, who will get clearer and more consistent rights in relation to the goods and services that they buy.

It is also great news for businesses, because it should will reduce the administrative burden of complying with the complex, disparate and sometimes outdated legal rules that are currently in place.

At the latest count, there were over 100 separate pieces of legislation that apply to doing business with consumers. The Consumer Rights Bill will bring various consumer rights together in one place and iron out inconsistencies.

The Bill aims to modernise consumer law so that it deals specifically with the brave new world (or, let’s face it, the not so new world) of ecommerce. Consumers who download an eBook or an online game to their mobile will soon have similar rights to those who walk into a shop and buy a washing machine or a pint of milk.

The provisions in the Bill on “digital content” will cover straightforward seller-to-consumer downloads but should also be able to cope with more sophisticated products, such as interactive or cloud-based software.

The good news is not limited to businesses trading in the UK. The Consumer Rights Directive, which came into effect in December 2011, requires all EU member states to implement similar measures by June 2014.

This is good news for British businesses wishing to sell cross-border, who won’t be faced with contrasting consumer laws in each member state. This gives consumers more choice and encourages competition. This has to be good news for investors too.

So what do you need to do now to be ready for the changes if and when they do become law? A lot of the Bill simply restates more clearly - and in one place - what the existing law is. Other parts create new law that could impact on your operations, contracts or logistics. Speak to your legal advisors now for a heads up on what the Bill means for your business.

For example, if you sell goods, your standard contracts or terms and conditions may need updating to allow for the new rules on passing of risk. You may need to change your warehouse and delivery arrangements to make sure that customers receive goods within the new statutory time limit of 30 days.

If you sell digital content you may need to make sure that your terms make it clear that you have the right to update content. What the Bill means will vary from business to business but the Bill is good news; we just need to get ready for it.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Charles Russell LLP .