Empowering and protecting consumers

[EXC]

BIS have launched a consultation 'Empowering and Protecting Consumers' which mainly deals with the transfer of the OFT's consumer protection functions to Trading Standards:

''Trading Standards and the Citizens Advice service both enjoy high levels of public awareness and public trust. This is a significant benefit as we strive to inform people better and bolster front-line protection, so my preference is to focus almost all Government spending on consumer policy on these two groups.''

''My vision for the future is one where national public funding is concentrated on the Citizens Advice service which will provide information and advice for the vulnerable and use the insights that this offers to act as the advocate for the consumer interest. Trading Standards will, meanwhile, continue to meet local threats under local political control, but will also come together with national budgetary support to collectively enforce consumer law against national and regional threats to the fair-trading environment. Consumers will know where to go for information and advice, advocacy will be evidence-based and efficient and enforcement will be consistent across the country and based on evidence of consumer harm.''

But before you get too depressed:

''The financial services sector is not within the scope of this consultation but the Financial Services Authority’s consumer panel promotes consumers’ views and interests when reviewing and advising on regulatory initiatives. Going forward, the new Financial Conduct Authority, as the regulator of conduct of business with responsibility for consumer protection, will also have a similar representative body.''

The problem is that if Trading Standards are tasked with enforcing consumer law, how are they going to do that as they don't have any lawyers when quarter of all OFT employees are lawyers? Also it doesn't seem to make clear if Trading Standards will be able to receive 'super-complaints''.

Empowering and protecting consumers | Consultations | BIS

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Empowering and protecting consumers

Trading Standards Officers can work with their local authority's Legal Department and/or instruct outside barristers to prosecute for breaches of consumer protection law.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Empowering and protecting consumers

There first sentence above how is the CAB bolstering front line defences when it is being cut and as for TS they do not command the high level of public trust and awareness as the BIS state indeed there are many consumers that do not even know of TS.

Regards

[EXC]

Re: Empowering and protecting consumers

Trading Standards Officers can work with their local authority's Legal Department and/or instruct outside barristers to prosecute for breaches of consumer protection law.

The problem is that a local authority's legal department isn't going to be well versed on, for example, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. I can't see that an organisation that doesn't have an in-house legal department could take on big legal cases like the OFT did with Foxtons and bank charges.