Commentary on Sections Introduction Section 211: Domestic Infringements
489.In addition to Community infringements this Part also applies to domestic infringements as defined in section 211. The definition of a domestic infringement consists of three elements: an act or omission must be done by a person in the course of business; it must fall within section 211(2); and it must harm the collective interests of consumers in the UK. The ‘harm test’ is the same as that for Community infringements described above.
490.Subsection (2), which provides the second element of the definition, gives the Secretary of State the power to specify by order the acts and omissions consisting of breaches of legislation or common law, as set out in section 211(2)(a)-(g), for the purposes of the definition of a domestic infringement. The legislation to which this provision applies includes Northern Ireland legislation.
491.Section 211(2)(a) enables the order to specify acts or omissions which consist of a contravention of an enactment that imposes a duty, prohibition or restriction enforceable by criminal proceedings. It is immaterial whether the duty, prohibition or restriction is imposed in relation to consumers or not, so that, for example, breaches of legislation that serve equally to protect businesses as well as consumers will qualify (section 211(4)(a)). It is not necessary for a person to have been convicted of any offence in respect of the act or omission (section 211(4)(d)).
492.Section 211(2)(b) and (c) enables an order to specify things done, or omitted to be done, in breach of contract or in breach of a non-contractual duty (for example, a statutory duty or a duty under the common law of negligence). It is immaterial whether civil proceedings in respect of the breach of contract or breach of duty have been brought or not (section 211(4)(c)). It is also to be immaterial whether or not that breach is waived by the consumer (section 211(4)(e)). For example, the consumer may decide to keep goods despite the fact that they were not supplied in the condition required by the contract. Another example would be where a consumer agrees to waive a breach of a contractual term such as a clause in a car hire agreement that the vehicle will have air conditioning.
493.Subsection (2)(a)-(c) reflects the existing scope of Part III of the FTA 1973. Section 211(2)(d) enables the order to specify as within the definition of a domestic infringement acts or omissions for which legislation provides a remedy or sanction enforceable in civil proceedings, although no duty is expressly placed on a person not to engage in such conduct. It is immaterial whether or not any remedy or sanction is provided for the benefit of consumers or not (section 211(4)(b)). For example, in relation to section 211(2)(d), a provision may require that a person must be compensated if another person does, or omits to do, something required by the provision. Also, under the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 a person concerned with the publication of a misleading advertisement may be subject to proceedings for an injunction brought by the DGFT; but there is no express duty on a person not to publish misleading advertisements. It is intended to list the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1998 in both the Community infringements regime and the domestic infringements regime for the reasons explained below.
494.Section 211(2)(e) enables the order to specify as within the definition of a domestic infringement things done or omitted to be done where an enactment creates a sanction of unenforceability. An example is the Consumer Credit Act 1974. A large number of ‘requirements’ of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 have as their sanction the unenforceability (against the debtor or hirer) of the consumer credit agreement or of the security of the agreement, or of rights under them. An example is requirements in relation to the form, content and signature of agreements in sections 60 and 61, and the duty to supply copies of the agreement and notice of the right to cancel in sections 62 to 64. In these cases, the court can allow the agreement to be enforced except in cases set out in sections 127(3) and (4) (e.g. unsigned agreements or where notice of the right to cancel is not given as required).
495.To the extent that requirements in the Consumer Credit Act 1974 transpose the Consumer Credit Directive (87/102/EEC), they would be covered by the definition of Community infringements in section 212. But the scope of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 goes beyond the giving of effect to the Consumer Credit Directive and ‘additional permitted protections’ within the meaning of section 212, although it is difficult to draw a clear dividing line. For this reason, it is intended to list the Consumer Credit Act 1974 in both the Community infringements regime and the domestic infringements regime.
496.Section 211(2)(f) enables an order to specify as within the definition of a domestic infringement any act or omission by which a person supplying goods or services purports or attempts to exercise any right relating to the supply when legislation restricts or excludes him from doing so in such circumstances. Subsection (2)(f) covers, for example, the creditor who seeks to enforce a term of a regulated credit agreement when he has failed to comply with a statutory pre-condition for enforcement, such as the requirement to give the debtor or hirer seven days’ notice of his intention to do so under section 76 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. It would also cover cases where a creditor recovers possession of protected hire-purchase goods without a court order, as required by section 90 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the business which claims money or the return of goods under a contract which is unenforceable.
497.A person who demands or accepts payments of sums when legislation relieves the payee of liability for them would also be purporting to exercise a right within subsection (2)(f). An example is section 93 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which provides that a debtor under a consumer credit agreement is not liable to pay increased interest when he is in default.
498.Section 211(2)(g) enables an order to specify as within the definition of a domestic infringement an act or omission by which a person supplying or seeking to supply goods or services purports or attempts to avoid liability relating to the supply in circumstances where such avoidance is restricted or prevented under an enactment. An example of an enactment which prevents the exclusion of liability is section 2(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. This section provides that contract terms or notices purporting to exclude or restrict liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence are void and of no effect under all circumstances.
499.Section 211(3) makes clear that, when specifying acts or omissions within the legislation or common law provisions covered in an order under section 211(2), the Secretary of State may exclude a subcategory of the act or omission concerned from the scope of the order.
500.The Department intends to make orders defining UK law for the purpose of the definition of a Community infringement, and listing the UK legislation and civil law obligations to which the definition of a domestic infringement will apply, before this Part of the Act comes into force. As with the Injunctions Directive and the way the Office of Fair Trading has used its existing powers under Part III of FTA 1973, the intention is that the list for domestic infringements should initially be limited to breaches of legislation whose main focus is to protect the economic interests of consumers, together with breaches of contract for the supply of goods or services and of the duty of care in negligence.
501.As a general rule it would not be the Department’s intention to include UK law implementing the directives listed in the annex to the Injunctions Directive in the domestic infringements regime. This is because breach of these will in any case be a Community infringement. However, there will be some cases where this will be necessary, for example, where the Department wants to be sure of covering more than what could be said to transpose listed directives in reliance on the minimum clause. For example, as mentioned above, it is not possible to draw a clear distinction between some of the provisions of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 that implement the consumer credit directive and others that are outside the scope of the directive. It is therefore the Department’s intention to list the Consumer Credit Act 1974 in both the Community infringements regime and the domestic infringements regime.
502.A useful weapon against homeworking or outworking scams has been the Control of Misleading Advertising Regulations 1988, which implement the Misleading Advertising Directive (84/450/EEC). Although prospective business people are protected by this directive, they may not necessarily be ‘consumers’ for the purpose of the definition of a Community infringement. The Department therefore also intends to include the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988 under the domestic infringements regime as well as the Community infringements regime.