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Consumer Law Enforcement
Regulations and laws are in place to protect consumers and businesses from unscrupulous vendors and rogue traders. The legislation is largely enforced by Local Trading Standards Officers, but other organisations and bodies, such as the Office of Fair Trading, may also investigate or take action.
The Enterprise Act has increased the types of enforcement by adding Group Claims, Enforcement Orders (aka Stop Now Orders) and Super Complaints. It also sets down criteria for general, designated and community enforcers.
Information on how, and by whom, consumer protection laws and regulations are decided, policed and enforced are in the following areas:
Enforcement Orders
Group Claims
Super Complaints
Trading Standards
Representative Actions and Restorative Justice Research Report
The University of Lincoln Law School prepared a research report for BERR in 2008 investigating the need for, and mechanisms to achieve satisfactory compensation for groups of consumers where they have suffered loss from traders.
The research was commissioned by BERR following consultations in 2006 on the issues of representative actions for consumers and regulatory justice. More evidence of need was considered necessary after this consultation. This research addresses that need and analyses how the various options might be applied to consumer cases.
The research sets out a number of recommendations that the Government have considered in the light of the Consumer Law Review and the Consumer White Paper published in the summer of 2009.
Consumer Policy monthly e-bulletin
Catch-up on all the latest consumer news from the Department by subscribing to our monthly e-bulletin newsletter.
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