Selected consumer rights
The law is complex in any situation whether it is a road traffic offence
under the strict liability rules or a serious manslaughter charge under
the criminal law.
The area of consumer protection law is no different and is complex with
legislation coming from many different sources, statute, common law and
EU Directives to name just three sources.
For example, Silberstein, 2007, argues that every consumer transaction is
based on law of contract, therefore technically every consumer should
understand the basics of contract law before moving on to understand the
special rules and statutes regarding consumer law. This is a complex area
for any undergraduate to understand and therefore an area that some
consumers, e.g. the elderly, would find extremely difficult to understand.
A consequence of complex consumer protection legislation is commented
on by Marsh in his 2008 book Consumer Law. “Many people do not know
their rights when encountering problems at the point of sale or after” (p.7)
Hypothesis
Initial research has led to the conclusion that consumer law is complex
and because of this few consumers and businesses actually understand it
fully and therefore sometimes customers and indeed businesses are
applying the law wrongly. This project aims to look at this in detail and to
prove if the hypothesis is founded or not.
The main purpose of this report is to first identify the main consumer
legislation and then to investigate if Silberstein is correct in her view that
consumer law is complex and through primary research if Marsh is correct
when he says that many people do not know there consumer rights.
Rationale
This project forms part of the third and final year BA (Hons) Business
Management (Legal Studies) degree at MMU Cheshire and is therefore a
substantial reason for completion of this project. However over the course
of the legal studies program many topics have been studied and through
this project the opportunity has arisen to explore and research a particular
area of interest.
Having studied this topic in Advanced Managerial Law and having
experenice of retail and selling consumer law was a topic that captured
my imagination, it is unlikely that anybody will have not come into contact
with it, knowingly or unknowingly, for example a contract is made for the
simple purchase of a loaf of bread and is therefore has an impact on every
bodies life.
, Research Methodology
Having laid down some aims and objectives, a number of secondary
sources i.e. statutes, textbooks and journals will be looked at to try and
establish what are regarded as the main consumer laws in the UK. Having
done this and using the same research a more in depth explanation of
these laws will be written, providing practical examples, possibly through
primary research to aid their understanding.
Primary research will be used in the form of a questionnaire to attempt to
ascertain what knowledge general consumers and businesses have of the
law using case studies and a Likert Scale answering system. The data will
be collected from 20 consumers and 10 businesses. Primary data will be
exclusive and original for this task because the questions can be tailored
to my specific needs and will also ensure direction over the integrity of the
data ensuring a fair cross section and sample of society is used.
Secondary data would be unsuitable as it is unlikely someone has already
conducted the exact research that is needed and as already mentioned no
control or reassurance over the integrity of the data sourced would be
available.
The primary data will be analysed to draw conclusions and any applicable
secondary research will be used to back up the findings.
Finally using all the primary and secondary data gathered to date an
evaluation of the findings will take place to draw a conclusion on if
consumers and business are aware of the main consumer laws drawn
from earlier research.
Aims and Objectives
To research which laws are the main laws regarding consumer
purchasing and protection.
Research to explain and give examples of these laws in action and
there effects on both consumers and businesses.
To devise a series of questions/situations regarding the main laws
identified to test the knowledge of consumers and businesses.
To report and critique on the findings.
To evaluate the report and findings from previous sections to draw a
conclusion and make any recommendations/suggestions to the
current main consumer laws.
What are the main consumer protection laws
in the UK?
As mentioned previously the law is complex and there could be many
statutes and regulations that could be regarded as ‘main consumer
protection laws’ just a quick search on the internet produces a long list
that includes;
The law is complex in any situation whether it is a road traffic offence
under the strict liability rules or a serious manslaughter charge under
the criminal law.
The area of consumer protection law is no different and is complex with
legislation coming from many different sources, statute, common law and
EU Directives to name just three sources.
For example, Silberstein, 2007, argues that every consumer transaction is
based on law of contract, therefore technically every consumer should
understand the basics of contract law before moving on to understand the
special rules and statutes regarding consumer law. This is a complex area
for any undergraduate to understand and therefore an area that some
consumers, e.g. the elderly, would find extremely difficult to understand.
A consequence of complex consumer protection legislation is commented
on by Marsh in his 2008 book Consumer Law. “Many people do not know
their rights when encountering problems at the point of sale or after” (p.7)
Hypothesis
Initial research has led to the conclusion that consumer law is complex
and because of this few consumers and businesses actually understand it
fully and therefore sometimes customers and indeed businesses are
applying the law wrongly. This project aims to look at this in detail and to
prove if the hypothesis is founded or not.
The main purpose of this report is to first identify the main consumer
legislation and then to investigate if Silberstein is correct in her view that
consumer law is complex and through primary research if Marsh is correct
when he says that many people do not know there consumer rights.
Rationale
This project forms part of the third and final year BA (Hons) Business
Management (Legal Studies) degree at MMU Cheshire and is therefore a
substantial reason for completion of this project. However over the course
of the legal studies program many topics have been studied and through
this project the opportunity has arisen to explore and research a particular
area of interest.
Having studied this topic in Advanced Managerial Law and having
experenice of retail and selling consumer law was a topic that captured
my imagination, it is unlikely that anybody will have not come into contact
with it, knowingly or unknowingly, for example a contract is made for the
simple purchase of a loaf of bread and is therefore has an impact on every
bodies life.
, Research Methodology
Having laid down some aims and objectives, a number of secondary
sources i.e. statutes, textbooks and journals will be looked at to try and
establish what are regarded as the main consumer laws in the UK. Having
done this and using the same research a more in depth explanation of
these laws will be written, providing practical examples, possibly through
primary research to aid their understanding.
Primary research will be used in the form of a questionnaire to attempt to
ascertain what knowledge general consumers and businesses have of the
law using case studies and a Likert Scale answering system. The data will
be collected from 20 consumers and 10 businesses. Primary data will be
exclusive and original for this task because the questions can be tailored
to my specific needs and will also ensure direction over the integrity of the
data ensuring a fair cross section and sample of society is used.
Secondary data would be unsuitable as it is unlikely someone has already
conducted the exact research that is needed and as already mentioned no
control or reassurance over the integrity of the data sourced would be
available.
The primary data will be analysed to draw conclusions and any applicable
secondary research will be used to back up the findings.
Finally using all the primary and secondary data gathered to date an
evaluation of the findings will take place to draw a conclusion on if
consumers and business are aware of the main consumer laws drawn
from earlier research.
Aims and Objectives
To research which laws are the main laws regarding consumer
purchasing and protection.
Research to explain and give examples of these laws in action and
there effects on both consumers and businesses.
To devise a series of questions/situations regarding the main laws
identified to test the knowledge of consumers and businesses.
To report and critique on the findings.
To evaluate the report and findings from previous sections to draw a
conclusion and make any recommendations/suggestions to the
current main consumer laws.
What are the main consumer protection laws
in the UK?
As mentioned previously the law is complex and there could be many
statutes and regulations that could be regarded as ‘main consumer
protection laws’ just a quick search on the internet produces a long list
that includes;
