Consumer protection still in consultation
(CNS): Work on consumer protection legislation that was first circulated as far back as 2015 remains in the consultation phase, as the business community had asked for even more time to submit proposals. Answering a question from opposition MLA Chris Saunders (BTW) in the LA last month, Attorney General Sam Bulgin said that the Law Reform Commission is busy reshaping the proposed draft law to suit the private sector and it is expected to go through yet another consultation phase later this year.
The original goal of the legislation was to introduce some form of legal protection for shoppers in the face of concerns that merchants are not always being fair to their customers. But it is clear from the backlash coming from the business community that the commission is being forced to change their proposed draft bill to accommodate fears about a loss of profits.
Bulgin told the Legislative Assembly that stakeholders had been given until July of last year to submit their comments. Since then, the commission has been adapting the draft and returning it back and forth for more input, and could offer no timeline as to when the public might expect to get some form of protection from bad business practices.
“Over the consultation period… the commission has received comprehensive comments from members of the general public and professionals in the legal, financial, business and academic fields,” he said, adding that the commission was deliberating on all these submissions.
He said the end goal is to present a proposal to government for a law that will strike a balance between safeguarding the interests of the consumer while avoiding the imposition of additional burdens on business. The AG said that the legislation remained a Law Reform Commission proposal and there was no political directive driving the law.
Despite the fact that this bill has been in the discussion stages for more than four years, the AG indicated that there was no sign of a bill anytime soon.
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Category: Business
The principal responsibility for new legislation lies with the AG. The Law Reform Commission is just an advisory body.
If the much-delayed law is being tailored to suit the private business sector, then it’s not a consumer law is it? Clearly, our Attorney General is an enabling central cog in the apparatus of this territory.
The number one “consumer protection” initiative is the Standards in Public Life Law; a Constitutional imperative still not enacted by this regime a decade later. These are not people wired to do the right thing or concern themselves with collective dissatisfaction, or even, outright theft.
Do you know how many businesses on the island would be screwed if there was real consumer protection?
More than a few, particularly those selling ‘grey’ import electrical and electronic goods with no warranties. This has been being kicked around for well over 10 years now (I think the first time is was looked at was in 2006) but anytime moves are made to create the legislation vested interests step in and interfere. That’s what’s happening now.
Why should, as this story states, the law be drafted to suit the private sector? The people this should be aimed at protecting are the customers not the vendors!
So how in practical terms do you propose to resolve this? Many US vendors/manufacturers do not honour warranties when their products leave the US. Many local businesses do actually honour these warranties at their own expense with no recourse to the original manufacturer.
Define real consumer protection.
5:47 Consumer protection covers a wide range of topics, including but not necessarily limited to product liability, privacy rights, unfair business practices, fraud, misrepresentation, and other consumer/business interactions. It is a way of preventing frauds and scams from service and sales contracts, eligible fraud, bill collector regulation, pricing, utility turnoffs, consolidation, personal loans that may lead to bankruptcy. – Wikipedia
Or in plain English it means consumers don’t get screwed by vendors and service providers in the way we are being now.
I will not be voting for anybody that is a part of this government if they don’t implemented meaningful consumer protection before the next general election.
I am not voting for anyone thats in the Freemason Lodge, for they only looks out for their own.
It is mischievous to suggest that the business community had concerns about this law due to “fears about a loss of profits”. The bill as drafted had been lifted from the laws of a much larger economy not at all like Cayman and would have tied businesses here in a mountain of red tape and confusion.
Why does the chamber have the final say on it. We screwed again
The same reason this “Government of national unity” has survived 2 years
The PPM and the CDP despite their differences have always served the almighty dollar
They are at the beck and call of business on theses islands