Does your business deal with consumers? If so, you will need to comply with the new Consumer Rights Act 2015 which will come into force in October. This is probably the most significant piece of legislation governing the relationship between businesses and consumers in the last 40 years.

Essentially the new law will bring together the current hotchpotch of consumer protection laws and regulations into one neat and tidy package. It will also grant new rights to consumers. Some of the important changes include:

• The introduction of a tiered set of remedies for defective goods. Consumers will have the right to reject defective goods within 30 days of purchase and get their money back. After that they will continue to have a right to require a repair or a replacement. It the trader fails to repair or replace, the consumer can reject and get their money back or keep the goods and get a reduction in the price paid.
• A whole new set of quality standards will be introduced in relation to digital content (such as video games and music downloads) meaning that, just like goods, digital content must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.
• Consumer contracts must be fair. A revised list of potentially unfair terms is included in the Act. The question of fairness will now also extend to price where the price is not transparent and prominent.

As a consequence of the new law, businesses dealing with consumers will need to train their customer facing staff on the new law and change their terms of business and many of their business practices such as their returns policies. In the lead up to the new Act coming into force, we will be publishing a series of blogs focusing on more detailed specifics and particular areas of the Act.