Guest post by Janusz Luterek, a Partner of Hahn and Hahn Attorneys.

Recently Parliament adopted a revised version of the Consumer Protection Bill.  Although many of the amendments made by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee were aesthetic and grammatical in nature, there are several notable exceptions:

• The Act will apply to all consumers, including companies and close corporations which have an asset value or turnover of less than R 5 million per year;
• All products which contain genetically modified organisms must be labelled as such and the exclusion to liability for any effects of consuming or interacting with such products has been deleted;
• Where a product fails within the first six months after purchase, the supplier must at the direction of the consumer either repair or replace, or refund the consumer;
• There is a new procedure for resolving disputes with suppliers, at the option of the consumer, by either mediation or arbitration.