House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Session 2013 - 14
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Other Bills before Parliament

17

House of Commons

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Consumer Rights Bill

[NINTH AND TENTH SITTINGS]

Clause 48 Agreed to.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  38

Clause  49,  page  30,  line  8,  at end insert—

‘(1A)
In assessing whether the service has been performed with reasonable care and

skill any claim made by the trader as to the outcome the service will achieve must

be taken into consideration.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  46

Clause  49,  page  30,  line  8,  at end insert—

‘(1A)
For the purposes of this Act every contract to supply a service by those traders

who are ring-fenced bodies providing financial services as defined under section

142A (Ring-fenced body) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 shall—

(a)
be subject to a fiduciary duty towards its consumers in the operation of

core services to provide these with reasonable care and skill as well as in

the management of any individual contract to provide services; and

(b)
be subject to a duty of care towards consumers across the financial

services sector.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  47

Clause  49,  page  30,  line  8,  at end insert—

‘(1A)
This requirement shall apply to all activities associated with providing a service

including—

(a)
the management of information held by the trader about the consumer

gained in the course of this contract,

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 4 March 2014
18

Consumer Rights Bill, continued

(b)
the communication with the consumer regarding the contract including

activities by the trader designed to induce the consumer to purchase

further goods or services from the trader,

(c)
for the purposes of this Act this shall be taken to include a requirement

for traders to prove they have the direct consent of a consumer to share

information on consumers gathered for the purposes of providing a

service with any third party including, but not limited to, marketing and

communication purposes, and

(d)
the trader will be liable for compensation for any distress caused by such

activity undertaken involving communications with the consumer via

either themselves or a third party without this consent.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Not called  39

Clause  50,  page  30,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘(1A)
Where a trader is selling a service that has restrictions on who can purchase it,

public communications about that service, including promotional material and

any promotional activities shall be required to reflect these restrictions.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  40

Clause  50,  page  30,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘(1B)
Prior to the provision of the service or agreeing the contract, whichever happens

first, the trader will explicitly provide the consumer with relevant details of their

statutory rights under sections 51, 52, 55 and 56 of this Act.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Not called  41

Clause  50,  page  30,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘(1C)
The trader is required to provide full details of the total cost of the service prior

to sale including any additional service fees or charges that could be incurred by

the buyer in purchasing the service.

(1D)
The information set out in subsection (1C) should be portrayed prior to sale and

the explicit consent to purchase the service at this price sought prior to sale.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Not called  42

Clause  50,  page  30,  line  22,  after ‘trader’, insert ‘with equal prominence and’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Not called  49

Clause  50,  page  30,  line  31,  at end insert—

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 4 March 2014
19

Consumer Rights Bill, continued

‘(4A)
Where the trader seeks to change any of the information set out in subsection (3)

after a contract has been entered into by a consumer, the trader must—

(a)
ensure that if the consumer does not wish to agree to the changes sought,

the consumer is able to terminate the contract without incurring financial

detriment; or

(b)
offer the consumer an alternative contract with a comparable financial

outcome for the consumer of the existing contract.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  50

Clause  51,  page  30,  line  37,  leave out from ‘price’ to end of line 38 and insert ‘for

all elements of the service supplied and the consumer faces ongoing costs or charges for

an element of the service.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Negatived on division  51

Clause  51,  page  31,  line  3,  at end add—

‘(4)
To enable consumers to assess whether the price they are paying for a service is

reasonable, and no more, and with regard to the provisions of section 50(1), the

Secretary of State will—

(a)
under the power set out in section 89 (Supply of customer data) of the

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 enact regulations to require

all regulated persons to provide customers with data regarding their

personal use of a service,

(b)
specify in a report presented to Parliament within three months of Royal

Assent of this Act which traders operating as a business as defined by

section 2 shall be considered regulated persons including any

government, or local or public authority and therefore identify a relevant

regulatory body to undertake the duties set out in paragraph (c),

(c)
having regard to the powers set out in section 89(8) of the Enterprise and

Regulatory Reform Act, require regulators of services provided by

regulated persons to submit a report within three months of Royal Assent

of this Act on guidance to include—

(i)
the provision of such data in a format which enables the

consumer to assess whether the price they are paying for a

service is reasonable including but not limited to the description

set out in section 89(7) of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Act 2013,

(ii)
the provision of guidance that can enable third parties to make a

request for this information with the consent of the consumer

including measures to limit the total charge that can be applied

for any such single request for data on behalf of multiple

consumers,

(iii)
requirements for those who hold data on consumers on behalf of

any government, local or public authority to seek to use this

information to secure social and consumer benefits for its

application as directed by the Information Commissioner,

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 4 March 2014
20

Consumer Rights Bill, continued

(iv)
requirements for all regulated persons to recognise that primacy

of ownership of any data generated directly in the course of a

contract with a consumer at any point in its execution lies with

the consumer and as such any decision requiring the

transmission of this data in a format where the consumer can be

identified to a third party by the trader must secure the direct

consent of the consumer,

(v)
requirements for all regulated persons to make available upon

request to a regulatory body information pertaining to their

management of non personal data collected in the course of

interactions with consumers by traders for the purposes of

enabling regulatory bodies to assess whether the rights of

consumers to a reasonable price for a service have been

infringed,

(vi)
guidance for the trader to clarify their ongoing responsibility for

the security and accuracy of data held on consumers whether the

consumer continues to maintain a contract with the trader or not,

and

(vii)
guidance for all regulated persons on ways to make publicly

available information about how consumers may exercise their

right to access data for the purposes of being able to make

decisions on contracts for services.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Negatived on division  52

Clause  51,  page  31,  line  3,  at end add—

‘(4)
Where the consumer is required to pay for a service via a third party as part of

another contract, for the purposes of assessing whether the charges they are

required to pay are reasonable they will have a right to the full details of any

contract including all charges and costs to which they are contributing.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Not called  53

Clause  51,  page  31,  line  3,  at end add—

‘(4)
Where the consumer is being supplied a financial service, the consumer shall be

provided with such information as shall enable them to know the risks that were

taken into account in calculating the applicable premium and the profit that

either—

(a)
the financial services company, or

(b)
financial broker anticipates to make on that premium if there is no claim

on the policy.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Not called  54

Clause  51,  page  31,  line  3,  at end add—

‘(4)
Where the service provided is for an additional assistance service, a reasonable

price will be one which is judged by reference to the guidance set out by the

original provider of the service who has approved the provision of such an

additional service including specifying a range of costs for its provision which

can be considered reasonable.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 4 March 2014
21

Consumer Rights Bill, continued

(5)
An “additional assistance” service for the purposes of this Act is to be considered

any service assisting a consumer to use the original service that does not alter the

original service provider’s intent in operating this service.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  55

Clause  52,  page  31,  line  12,  at end insert—

‘(3A)
For the purposes of this Act, where the service provides assistance to the

consumer for what can reasonably be considered serious loss of—

(a)
livelihood,

(b)
primary living accommodation, or

(c)
household earnings


and such a service would be considered their primary redress for such a loss, the

impact of any delay in provision of this service on their quality of life can be taken

into account in determining what timeframe is considered reasonable.

(3B)
Considerations under subsection (3A) do not affect the right of consumers to seek

other remedies for a breach of contract at a later date regarding delay in provision

of compensation.’.

Clause Agreed to.

Clause 53 Agreed to.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  56

Clause  54,  page  31,  line  30,  at end insert—

‘(2A)
The trader shall provide the consumer with full details of their relevant statutory

rights under a services contract before the point at which the consumer seeks to

challenge whether these rights have been met. This shall be done within an

appropriate, retainable format and within a reasonable time of contact with the

trader for this purpose to enable the consumer to exercise their rights.’.

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Withdrawn  57

Clause  54,  page  31,  line  34,  at end insert—

‘(3A)
Where the conduct of the service can be reasonably considered to lead to a risk to

the personal safety of the consumer, the consumer has a right to—

(a)
a full refund of the cost of the contract, and

(b)
any additional fees associated with the service.

(3B)
Any action taken under subsection (3A) will not prevent the consumer from

seeking other remedies or further compensation for the consequences of this

installation.’.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 4 March 2014
22

Consumer Rights Bill, continued

Stella Creasy

Stephen Doughty

Not called  58

Clause  54,  page  32,  line  6,  at end insert—

‘(6A)
In seeking to enquire about the terms of their contract, possible breaches of their

statutory rights or enforce terms about service, a trader cannot charge the

consumer for seeking to communicate with them.’.

[Adjourned until Thursday at 11.30 am



© Parliamentary copyright	Revised 5 March 2014