There has been a significant amount of media coverage on the latest draft of the Consumer Protection Bill: what it means for consumers, how it will affect businesses, what clauses need to be reviewed, and so it goes on. It’s easy to get caught up in all the intricate details and forget about the bigger picture sometimes, so I decided to put together a simple post to cover the key objectives of the Bill. These objectives were outlined in the dti presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry last week:
- To promote a fair, efficient and transparent market place for consumers and business.
- To empower economic citizens to function effectively and efficiently in the market through access to better product and transaction information, education and prevention of unethical treatment of customers.
- To protect ethical business from unfair competition by unethical business
- To foster a competitive environment for consumers to access better quality products, competitive prices and improved service levels.
- To reduce costs to the economy arising out of consumer complaints about unfair treatment, enforcement actions and legal costs incurred by business.
- To provide a consistent, predictable and effective regulatory framework that fosters consumer confidence.
- To provide access to effective consumer redress for economic citizens.
These objectives form the framework of the Bill and address the shortcomings of previous consumer legislation so that consumers are better protected and are empowered to realise their rights. Click here to find out more about why the Bill has been introduced.
Look out for our next post which will look at some of the core definitions in the Bill and how they affect both consumers and suppliers.
