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Fair Trading Act Commentary
[In the Winter 1999 issue of The Legal Strategist we outlined some of the new "unfair trade practices" set out in the Fair Trading Act which comes into force on September 1, 1999. Below is a reprint of a commentary received from one of our readers (with his consent).]
"Thanks for informing me of your new Legal Strategist newsletter. I enjoy reading the articles. Your article titled "The New Fair Trading Act" caught my attention. Particularly the phrase "the new act may shift some of the risks of purchasing a product or service from the consumer to the supplier"
"This is a considerable change from the old maxim "buyer beware". As a consumer, this shift in responsibility concerns me. By shifting risk we are in effect shifting costs of doing business. The net effect of these actions will be an increase cost to the consumers as businesses will simply add this cost to the cost of doing business. The increased cost of doing business will include legal costs of defending actions, revealing costs to consumers, providing increased or bullet proof warranty on products, accepting returns in disputes, etc."
"I always find changes in Government policy are usually driven by a party that has interests in increasing their own profits. I would find it interesting as to who is lobby group pushing for these changes. (I trust it isn't lawyers.)"
"I do believe suppliers should not have the right to rip off consumers. I believe the current legal system covers this possibility. However we should be careful in supporting such an act until we can fully understand the full cost effect of implementing the act. I'm looking forward to your further reporting on this subject in The Legal Strategist."
Jim A. Mitchell