1 Introduction
1. At present, 12 separate pieces of legislation
cover key consumer rights in the UK[1],
while around 60 pieces of legislation cover the investigatory
powers of consumer law enforcers.[2]
2. The draft Consumer Rights Bill is intended to
consolidate, rationalise and modernise consumer law. The draft
Bill would apply to contracts between a trader and a consumer,
and not to 'business to business' or 'consumer to consumer' contracts.[3]
3. The draft Bill is part of a wider landscape of
reform in consumer law, which includes the Consumer Rights Directive
which must implemented in the UK by June 2014, the Misleading
Practices Directive and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Directive.[4]
4. We support the Government's initiative of seeking
to rationalise and modernise the complex statutory framework of
consumer law. However, we consider that the draft Bill raises
many important and complex issues which must be resolved before
a final Bill is introduced to Parliament. The proposals in the
draft Bill represent the largest and most radical overhaul of
consumer law in decades and therefore it was not possible to consider
every issue. We have focussed on those areas which attracted the
greatest concern and uncertainty from stakeholders, and those
areas which if implemented would represent the most significant
departures from the current legal position.
5. The Government published its draft Consumer Rights
Bill on 12 June 2013.[5]
We decided to examine the draft Bill and on 2 July 2013 we issued
a call for evidence which closed on 19 August 2013, although we
accepted evidence sent to us throughout the duration of the inquiry.
The Government submitted several items of supplementary evidence
during this time.
- We took oral evidence from consumer and business
representatives, enforcers, the Law Commissions and the Government.
The Government had expressed its hope that we would report to
the House as soon as possible, and the constraints on our timetable
limited the amount of oral evidence we were able to hear. We are
grateful to all those who submitted written evidence, gave oral
evidence or otherwise assisted with our inquiry.
1 Draft Consumer Rights Bill, Explanatory Notes,
June 2013, paragraph 8 (hereafter, 'Explanatory Notes') Back
2
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Enhancing consumer
confidence through effective enforcement: Supplementary Legislative
Document for the consultation on consolidating and modernising
consumer law enforcement powers, March 2012, pages 5-12 Back
3
Clause 2(2) and clause 2(3) Back
4
See Chapter 2 of this Report Back
5
Draft Consumer Rights Bill, Cm 8657(www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-consumer-rights-bill) Back
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