The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 A Brief Introduction
A minimum set of common consumer rights on faulty goods in each EU country is provided for by Directive 1999/44/EC on the Sale of Consumer Goods (“the Directive”). One aim of the Directive is to encourage people to shop across borders, knowing they have protection if anything is wrong with the products they buy. Existing UK law has been retained but slightly amended, mainly to give effect to specific remedies which, although they have been in use for many years, have not previously been part of the law. These amendments are contained in the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations (“the Regulations”), in force from 31 March 2003. This brief Guide is to explain the operation of the law in the UK.
The Regulations apply to a range of transactions between businesses and consumers, including the sale and supply of goods, hire and hire-purchase. “Consumers” are defined as people who are buying for purposes not related to their trade, business or profession. The Regulations do not apply to services in general nor do they apply to second hand goods sold at auctions that the consumer has the opportunity of attending in person. When goods are faulty, a consumer can generally only obtain a legal remedy against the retailer. Consumers are generally not able to claim directly against the manufacturer. Consumers may have additional rights under any guarantees supplied with the goods or against a credit card company or finance house if the goods are purchased by means of credit and have a price of over £100.
The Regulations apply to a range of transactions between businesses and consumers, including the sale and supply of goods, hire and hire-purchase. “Consumers” are defined as people who are buying for purposes not related to their trade, business or profession. The Regulations do not apply to services in general nor do they apply to second hand goods sold at auctions that the consumer has the opportunity of attending in person. When goods are faulty, a consumer can generally only obtain a legal remedy against the retailer. Consumers are generally not able to claim directly against the manufacturer. Consumers may have additional rights under any guarantees supplied with the goods or against a credit card company or finance house if the goods are purchased by means of credit and have a price of over £100.
Consumers are entitled to goods of satisfactory quality, taking account of any description, the price and other relevant circumstances. If an item has a fault that is present at the time of sale, the consumer can complain once it is discovered. Consumers cannot expect a legal remedy in respect of:
fair wear and tear;
misuse or accidental damage; or
if they decide they no longer want the item.
Similarly, consumers cannot expect a legal remedy where goods have faults that they knew about before the sale or that should have been evident on reasonable inspection.
If a product that was faulty at the time of sale is returned to the retailer, the consumer is legally entitled to:
a full refund, if this is within a reasonable time of the sale (“reasonable time” is not defined in law but is often quite short); or
a reasonable amount of compensation (or “damages”) for up to six years from the date of sale (five years after discovery of the problem in Scotland).
This does not mean all goods have to last six years! It is the limit for making a claim in respect of a fault that was present at the time of sale. It is not equivalent to a guarantee. These are long-established rights and they remain available to the consumer after the Regulations come into force on 31 March 2003.
Under the Regulations, consumers can choose to request instead:
a repair or replacement.
The retailer can decline either of these if he can show that they are disproportionately costly in comparison with the alternative. However, any remedy must also be completed without significant inconvenience to the consumer. If neither repair nor replacement is realistically possible, consumers can request instead:
a partial or full refund, depending on what is reasonable in the circumstances.
It may be the case that a full refund is not the reasonable option because the consumer will have enjoyed some benefit from the goods before the problem appeared. This needs to be taken into account before a reasonable partial refund can be assessed. As illustrated in the flow chart below, consumers can switch between certain remedies if they find they are getting nowhere down the route originally selected. However, they would have to give a retailer a reasonable time to honour a request before they tried to switch, and they could never pursue two remedies at the same time.
