Consumer Rights and Disputes Subscription Contracts
Chapter 2 of Part 4 provides consumers with significant new rights in relation to subscription contracts and, for these contracts, replaces the two main parts of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 ("CCRs") on pre-contract information and cooling-off cancellation rights with tailored provisions applicable to subscription contracts. Chapter 2 aims to create a new regime integrating consumers’ key rights under the CCRs with a set of new statutory rights so as to create a consolidated regime for the regulation of subscription contracts in one enactment. These private law rights are directly enforceable by consumers. In addition, Part 3 provides for the public civil enforcement of Chapter 2 of Part 4 by authorised enforcers in order to protect the collective interests of consumers.
	In these Notes, the term "subscription contract" is used with the meaning given by section 254. There are several consumer protection enactments and rules of law which are relevant to subscription contracts as a category of consumer contracts, detailed below.
	Firstly, the CCRs. These regulations apply to contracts between traders and consumers (apart from certain excluded contracts) and, in particular:
require traders to provide certain pre-contract information to consumers and do so ‘in a clear and comprehensible manner’ before the consumer is bound by the contract. By virtue of provisions in Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, this statutory pre-contractual information is to be treated as amounting to implied terms of the contract and is therefore legally binding on the trader in the same way as what is said in the contract itself, and
provide consumers with cancellation rights to cancel so-called distance or off-premises contracts shortly after entering the contract (sometimes known as cooling-off cancellation rights) without giving any reason or incurring any costs other than those specified.
	The CCRs implemented most of the provisions of Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights. Notwithstanding the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972, the CCRs continue in force, as a result of section 2 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
	The CCRs extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
	The CCRs contain provisions for civil enforcement by the specified enforcement authorities, as well as provision for criminal enforcement of specific requirements relating to the provision to consumers of pre-contract information on cooling-off cancellation rights in the case of off-premises contracts. In addition to these enforcement provisions, the requirements of the CCRs as a whole can currently be enforced by authorised enforcers through the enforcement mechanism provided by Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002 in order to prevent harm to the collective interests of consumers.
	Secondly, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which are replaced by Chapter 1 of Part 4. Further background in relation to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 is set out above.
	Thirdly, the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 implies terms into consumer contracts for the supply by traders to consumers of goods, digital content and services, which provide for a range of essential rights under such contracts including rights that the products supplied are of the agreed quality and description. Part 1 further confers on consumers a range of remedies where these rights are breached. Part 1 restricts traders from contracting out of these statutory rights or remedies. Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 clarified and consolidated existing consumer legislation on unfair contract terms and notices and provides that terms in consumer contracts which are unfair according to the statutory test are not binding on consumers.
	Apart from one section, Parts 1 and 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 extend to the whole of the UK.
	Parts 1 and 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 can currently be enforced by authorised enforcers through the enforcement mechanism provided by Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002 in order to prevent harm to the collective interests of consumers. Part 2 and Schedule 3 to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 contain provisions for civil enforcement of Part 2 by the Competition and Markets Authority and other specified regulators.