modern markets: confident consumers?

Can the Government’s Consumer White Paper 
make a difference to those of us at the grass roots?

The Government has set itself a remarkable new agenda: "

• to promote open and competitive markets
• to provide people with the skills, knowledge, and information they need to become demanding consumers" (interesting word that ‘demanding’) "
• to encourage responsible businesses to follow good practice
• to avoid burdening those businesses with unnecessary regulation
• to protect the public from serious trade malpractice and unsafe products."

Open and competitive markets

The Government promises to foster free and fair competition but will be tough on those who seek to damage the competitive process.

They will encourage the competition authorities to be more proactive and, to this end, will launch an annual study to investigate whether prices are higher in the UK than in the USA, France and Germany. The competition authorities will then examine discrepancies to see whether they are caused by anti-competitive behaviour.

Knowledgeable and demanding consumers Knowledge is power and power

enables us to be demanding consumers. It is pleasing to read that the Government will ensure that consumers are given accurate comprehensive and understandable information.

Shops will have to price goods clearly and make it easy to compare the price of goods in different quantities. The law will be changed to provide tougher controls on misdescriptions of services, and steps will be taken to improve consumers knowledge of rights when buying by mail order, over the phone and on the Internet. Consumer Education is to become a top priority, both for adults and in schools.

Effective codes of practice

The Government has drawn up core principles for effective codes of practice and proposes to give the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) powers to approve and publicise the codes which meet these principles.

Codes for e-commerce trading

A new body will be set up to accredit e-commerce codes of practice which will be identified by a digital hallmark. One wonders why a new body should be set up when the OFT

is about to be given new powers to approve codes. Are the principles of e-commerce so different?

Help for business

The Government wants to know whether small businesses should be protected by current consumer law.

The Government believes that there is scope for removing some burdensome regulations and is considering updating and simplifying the law on weights and measures and looking at the current system of consumer credit licensing. Better consumer advice and help with redress

The Government is to promote a new consumer advice network which will bring together existing advice agencies, and will launch a pilot telephone helpline.

Dealing with the rogues

There have always been those who manage to avoid retribution for rogue trading but the Government now intends to target such rogues in a much more effective way.

It plans to give:

• power to the courts to grant injunctions against specific practices carried out by specific traders
• power to the courts to ban from trading for a period those traders with a history of disregarding legal obligations
• power for the Secretary of State to specify that certain practices which have been shown to be harmful should be made illegal. Importantly, the power to seek injunctions and banning orders will be made available to local authorities as well as the OFT. The Government wants the Trading Standards Service within local government strengthened and will help this process by fostering better training and more cooperation between local authorities.

More bodies will be given the right to take action against unfair contract terms and to seek injunctions against traders who breach the law in certain key areas.

Consumer consultation and representation

Consumers’ views are to be sought before decisions are made on relevant industrial, social and policy issues. A consumer advisory body will report directly to Ministers.

More resources are to be devoted to research and polling consumers directly.

Stronger consumer voice

The OFT is to develop its role as a consumer watchdog and the Government will help relaunch the National Consumer Council as a dynamic and even more effective force in UK consumer affairs.

The Government’s vision

The White Paper sets out what it describes as a clear vision of, and principles guiding, consumer policy. All Departments have signed up. This, the Government suggests, will ensure that the issues which really matter to consumers will be targeted, problems identified early and greater cohesion between policy making and enforcement bodies achieved.

The next step

You (Groups and Individual Members) are invited to comment on the White Paper but to do so you really need to have a copy.

It is entitled "modern markets: confident consumers" (Cm 4410) and costs £8.95 from The Stationery Office Ltd, which has outlets in most major cities. There is also an eight page summary. You can order through the Parliamentary Hot Line - low call 0345 02 34 74. It can also be found on the DTI website: http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumer/whitepaper.

Send your comments, by 29th October at the latest, to: Stephen Haddrill, Director of Consumer Affairs, DTI, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H OET, or e-mail: whitepaper@cacp .dti.gov.uk

The National Federation of Consumer Groups would also like to hear your views. You can write to the Chairman at NfCG, 527 Leeds Road, Scholes, Leeds LS15 4DA, send an e-mail to: nf.cg@virgin.net.

back to menu