Distance Selling Regulations

The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 (totally repealed in June 2014 by The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 which in many respects are however similar regulations), Statutory Instrument 2000/2334, implementsEuropean Directive 97/7/EC as UK law. They apply to contracts "concluded between a supplier and a consumer under an organised distance sales or services provision scheme run by the supplier who, for the purposes of the contract, makes use of one or more means of distance communication" up to and including the moment the contract is agreed. The legislation provides rights to the consumer and obligations which the seller must fulfill.

Typical cases where the Regulations apply include goods or services ordered by telephone or over the Internet.

A consumer is a "natural person who is acting for the purposes other than those of his trade, business or profession". The definition is slightly broader than that in the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, where the subjective requirement of the person not regarding himself as acting in the course of a business is not present. So, under the Regulations, someone who uses a company account or business details for tax obligations is still considered a consumer if the transaction is not one done for or on behalf of the business. A customer is a person who actually buys the product but this does not mean they have to use the product. The person who uses the product is called a consumer.

The supplier's obligations are mostly covered by Regulation 7, although other obligations are made by other regulations.

This information must be clear and comprehensible. Under Regulation 8 all this information must also be given to the consumer in a durable or storable medium along with all terms and conditions, a geographical address and, if the contract could last over a year, the conditions for taking contractual action.

The seller must perform the contract within thirty days of its being made. If a supplier cannot meet the contract, he must within another thirty days pay back any money and return any other property that the consumer used to secure the contract, and tell the consumer that he has done so.

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