14. What the Review Might Deliver

The second objective of the Consumer Law Reform review is:

• To achieve simplification and consolidation of the existing law.

Throughout the discussion document there has been consideration of how to meet this objective and whether standalone legislation is still needed to deliver particular consumer and business protections or whether the protections could be included in an enhanced Fair Trading Act.

Initial thinking is that there are three possible consumer law outcomes following consideration of the issues and questions addressed in the review. These are summarised below. The status quo is not considered an option that will meet the objectives of this review.

Option 1: An enhanced Fair Trading Act complemented by the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Weights and Measures Act as standalone laws

An enhanced Fair Trading Act could incorporate provisions as considered appropriate from the Door to Door Sales Act, the Layby Sales Act, the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act and new provisions to ensure this legislation is relevant and up to date with modern transactions and best practice consumer law.

The Consumer Guarantees Act and the Weights and Measures Act would continue to complement the Fair Trading Act. One reason for keeping the Fair Trading Act and the Consumer Guarantees Act as separate laws is that the Fair Trading Act provides for public enforcement of its provisions by the Commerce Commission whereas the Consumer Guarantees Act establishes rights for consumers to take self-enforcement action. Another reason is that both pieces of law have very good recognition. The major survey of consumer awareness undertaken in 2009⁸² indicated that nearly half of New Zealanders could name the Consumer Guarantees Act and about one quarter the Fair Trading Act. There is also very good understanding of the rights consumers have under the Consumer Guarantees Act for faulty goods to be repaired or replaced by the retailer, or for retailers to provide a refund to the consumer.

The Weights and Measures Act is a very important law for defining consumer outcomes, but it is specialist business legislation. There is a trade off between having a lesser number of statutes and ease of access for business wanting to find relevant law. Weights and measures law internationally tends to stand alone. For example, in Australia, they have the National Measurement Act 1960, the United Kingdom has the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and Canada has the Weights and Measures Act.

In the overall consumer law portfolio, these three pieces of law would then be complemented by the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 (CCCFA) and the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003 (MVSA), which are sector specific pieces of law. Both are principles-based and recent law. The MVSA was recently reviewed and the CCCFA is currently being reviewed. It is being proposed that the CCCFA will be amended to incorporate the Credit (Repossession) Act 1997.

Option 2: An enhanced Fair Trading Act incorporating as a separate part the Weights and Measures Act and complemented by the Consumer Guarantees Act
The second possible outcome is that an enhanced Fair Trading Act could incorporate provisions from the Door to Door Sales Act, the Layby Sales Act, the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act and new provisions as considered appropriate to ensure this legislation is relevant and up to date with modern transactions and best practice consumer law as referred to in option 1. The Fair Trading Act could also include as a separate part those matters covered by the Weights and Measures Act.

The Weights and Measures Act essentially concerns specific representations as to the weight or measure of a good. Similar to the Fair Trading Act, it is legislation that concerns the regulation of the conduct of businesses in order to achieve good outcomes for consumers and to protect honest businesses from unscrupulous business practices.

Option 3: An enhanced Fair Trading Act incorporating as separate parts the Consumer Guarantees Act and complemented by the Weights and Measures Act

The third option is an enhanced Fair Trading Act, incorporating provisions as considered appropriate from the Door to Door Sales Act, the Layby Sales Act, the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act and new provisions to ensure this legislation is relevant and up to date with modern transactions and best practice consumer law. The Fair Trading Act could also include as a separate part those matters covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act.

The Australian Consumer Law proposes to include within its scope broadly equivalent provisions to the Consumer Guarantees Act. Australia, however, has separate legislation for regulating the use of weights and measures. This option for enhancing the Fair Trading Act would therefore be closest to the Australian Consumer Law in its proposed final form.

Questions

Footnotes 

82 National Consumer Survey 2009.