Commentary on Sections Interpretation Section 232: Goods and services
579.Subsections (2) and (3) provide a definition of 'goods' and the 'supply of services' for purposes of this Part, including in relation to the meaning of a 'consumer' in relation to a domestic infringement. These definitions are identical in substance to those contained in section 137(2) of the FTA 1973.
580.Subsections (4) and (5) make provision as to the circumstances in which the supply of goods or services wholly or partly outside the UK are to be regarded as being supplied to a consumer in the UK, so that the provisions on domestic infringements will apply to those transactions. This is when goods or services are supplied in accordance with the arrangements falling within subsection (5), but those arrangements may be made by any means, including electronic means, for example, internet transactions and transactions made by other forms of electronic communications. There is no presumption that a consumer should normally be resident in the UK. The effect is that an application can be made for an enforcement order under section 215 against an e-trader based in the UK whose unlawful conduct which constitutes a domestic infringement is directed at consumers anywhere in the world. Subsections (4) and (5) update an equivalent provision in section 138(3) of the FTA 1973 which does not reflect today’s world of e-commerce.