What is consumer protection Act 1986?

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consumer-protection-actWhat is consumer protection Act? How it works in different countries? As we know that there are different, types of people live in our society who do not have any experience to buy good quality products or services. For this, they bear loss or bad quality products, which result in the loss of money. Consumers protected against buying the bad quality product and services against the good quality price. Consumer protection provides the security to these consumers against fraudulent sellers and bad quality products. There are different agencies also available for consumer protection. For example, different online companies use services, such as BBB Online, Verisign, and Trust-E, to earn the trust of their customers.

Why are consumer protected?

In the service industry consumers directly interact with the producers when they required their services and hire them for some work, there should be assurance that he is getting or dealing with a legitimate person or company. In this type of condition, we need an intermediary who will create a trust between the consumer of the service and the producer. Consumer protection policies are very important because these will help from fraudulent advertisements, bad quality products or good and poor services.

Give a short account of the historical development of consumer law in Australia

Australian Consumer Law deals with the fair-trading and consumers protection, it was first commenced on 1 January 2011. It is cooperative reform of the Australian Government and the States and Territories through the Legislative and Governance Forum on Consumer Affair (CAF). The Australian Consumer Law is controlled and enforced jointly by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the state and Territory consumer protection agencies, with the involvement of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on relevant matters. The ACL was developed by the agreement of Council of Australian Government. The provisions of the ACL main reflects the provision previously afforded by the Trade Practices ACT 1974, but in Australian Consumer Law, some additional protections are also added. The ACL also reflects most of the consumer’s protections under the fair trading legislation in each state and territory. The review on the ACL was formally started on 31 March 2016 with the release of an issue paper. A call for the issue paper to be closed on 27 May 2016.

An interim report was also issued for public consultation, which was closed on 9 December 2016. The public consultation provides an opportunity to give their feedback on whether the law is working effectively and what they can do to make it more effective in the country. All stakeholders are encouraged to give their feedback. On 12 June 2015, the Minister of Consumer Affairs Ministers agreed on Term of Reference for the review. This was the first review of the ACL after its commencement on 1 January 2011.

The first review of the meets the requirements of Intergovernmental Agreement for the ACL, which signed by the COAG on 2 July 2009. This review provides that the administration and enforcement of the ACL be undertaken within seven years of the law commencing. The review will provide the information on the effectiveness and administration of the law, whether the ACL is flexible to face the new issues or not. The Consumer Affairs Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) will conduct this review. CAANZ will provide consumer affairs ministers, through the Legislative and Governance Forum on Consumer Affairs, with an interim report in the second half of 2016 and a final report by March 2017. The final report will make findings and identify options to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the ACL

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Currently, how do consumer’s protection laws operate in Australia?

  1. Consumer rights & guarantees

The Australian Consumer Law set out different rights for the consumers that called consumer guarantees. In this, a consumer can repair, refund or replace as well as will get compensation for the damages caused by the bad quality products or services. The consumer also has the right to cancel the faulty service.

Now the first question arise here is that which products or services are guaranteed? Businesses must get a guarantee for the products and services they sell, lease or hire are under $40,000, over $40,000 that are normally bought for personal or household use. Business vehicles are also covered; there is no restriction on the cost because these are used for the business to transport goods from one place to another. Businesses who sell these value products must provide automatic guarantees regardless of any other warranties they want to give them to their consumers. If business is not giving, these guarantees then the consumer have different rights for;

  1. a) Repair, replacement or refund
  2. b) Canceling the bad service
  3. c) Claim compensation for the damages

The consumer can ask the business for the free repair of the goods, replace or refund of bad quality products, but customers are not always entitled to one. For example, a consumer ordered a product and after some time, he changed his mind or find the cheaper product from somewhere else, and now you are saying that you do not like the product or it has no use for it. There are some exceptions for example if there is the minor problem with the product then the business can choose to give you free repair, instead of replacing the goods. If there is the major problem then the consumer have right to replace the good or get their money back. If the service provided to you is very bad quality then you can claim for the compensation.

  1. Repairs

If there is a minor problem in the product or service, then consumers must accept the free repair from the business. If business fails to give you a free repair within reasonable time or can not fix the problem according to the consumer demand, in this case the consumer can fix it from the outside or from the third party and charge the cost to the business, ask for the replacement of the product or get refund from the business or can get compensation for the drop in value below the price paid.

  1. When you can cancel a service

If the consumer has, the major problem with the service or product received and the business cannot fix the problem within a reasonable time then you have the right to cancel the service contract. The supplier will refund all the money to the consumer and can ask for the damages caused by this. You cannot cancel the service if you have received what you have expected. You cannot cancel or get a refund if it is outside the control of the service provider or you have changed the mind that service should be provided in this way against the advice of the service provider.

 

 

Please explain current consumer law protection at both state and federal level.

The states and territories regime have been adapted from the Australian Consumer Law referred to Fair trading between buyers and sellers either these are services or goods. State regimes are controlled by the relevant consumer agencies in the each state and territory. In the Western Australia region, the Department of Commerce monitor all the aspects of consumer protections. When there are commercial transaction and disputes between consumers and supplier then the Australian Consumer Law has very broad application. It is therefore very important to consider all the relevant effects on the commercial transactions and disputes.

Here is the list of the rights of the consumers under the law are as follows;

  1. a) Misleading or deceptive conduct;

There is a strict prohibition by ACL on any misleading or deceptive conduct, whether by a positive act or refraining from doing an act, which is occurred in a normal course of commerce or trade. For the prohibition to applicable on a person should be engaging at the time the conduct complained of occurred.

The phrase here in trade or commerce is a very extensive case law and considered as a generally to be conducted which bears an inherently trading character. There are various exceptions to this prohibition that may be applicable to defense to this claim.

Unconscionable conduct: businesses ar prohibited from participating in unconscionable conduct as against each customer and different businesses (including in relevance retail leases). The ACL identifies a listing of things that the courts could think about once determinative whether or not a business has engaged in unconscionable conduct. These factors embrace the relative strengths of the negotiation power between the parties, whether or not the conduct was fairly necessary for the protection of legitimate interests and whether or not or not there was any undue influence, pressure or unfair ways exerted by the stronger party. The ACL contains each a statutory prohibition and, wherever the prohibition isn’t applicable, conjointly preserves the common law reason for action for unconscionable conduct. Consequently, if your claim doesn’t fall at intervals the extent of the statutory prohibition you’ll still have a claim below the overall law.

False or deceptive statements: businesses should make sure that statements created by an individual representing the business, as well as statements created to advertise or promote the business to customers, don’t seem to be in any means false or deceptive. Specific prohibitions exist within the ACL concerning, amongst different things, the quality, quality, price, age, testimonials, support, place of origin, guarantees or warranties of products and services. However, wherever a press release is nothing over mere puffery, in sure circumstances it’s going to not be thought-about to be false or deceptive.

Consumer guarantees: the ACL contains twelve client guarantees that apply to all or any merchandise and services purchased by customers. A client is outlined broadly speaking to incorporate either a business or a personal, provided sure necessities are met. wherever there’s a failure to satisfy a guarantee the buyer is entitled to a remedy. the kind of remedy that has to be granted, and World Health Organization is prone to give it, can depend upon the circumstances of every case. the buyer guarantees don’t seem to be solely applicable to customers, however, may give suppliers with rights against makers, as well as the correct to recover prices wherever a provider is prone to give a remedy to a client as a result of a guaranteed failure.

Unfair contracts: the ACL contains a national unfair contract terms law that is applicable to all or any normal type client contracts. A client contract is also found to be void and treated as if it never existed wherever any term of the quality type client contract is deemed to be “unfair”.

Commercial disputes: one or additional breaches of the buyer protection provisions is also raised in business disputes and legal proceeding, whether or not concerning a client and business dealing or a business and business dealing. the problem of deceptive or deceptive conduct ofttimes arises within the context of economic disputes.

We perceive the intricacies of the buyer law and its principles. whether or not {you ar|you’re} a client and you wish recommendation in determinative your rights otherwise you are a business and you’d wish to apprehend additional concerning your rights and responsibilities, this firm will assist you in understanding the applying of the buyer law regimes and supply you with cost-efficient business recommendation tailored to your state of affairs.

If a consumer is dissatisfied with a good or service provided how he or she can get relief through the court system and outside the court system

 The Court has jurisdiction with respect to claims under the following provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (formerly the Trade Practices Act 1974):

  1. Section 46 (Misuse of Market Power)
  2. Section IVB (Industry Codes)
  3. Part XI (Application of the Australian Consumer Law as a law of the Commonwealth), and
  4. Schedule 2 (Australian Consumer Law).

The Court can provide injunctive relief and award damages up to $750,000. Consumer credit matters under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 with provision for access to small claims procedures in relation to certain compensation matters.

 

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