Consumer Protection Legislation

The legislation aimed at consumer protection which has been in the pipeline for a number of years was eventually adopted by parliament and finally signed and assented to by the President on 24 April 2009 as the Consumer Protection Act of 2008.

The Consumer Protection Act was published in Government Gazette No.

32186  of 29 April 2009.The Act inter alias aims to give effect to the Republic of South Africa's international; obligations to ensure - 

• Promoting and protecting the economic interest of consumers,
• Improving access to and the quality of information that is necessary so that consumers are able to make informed choices according to their individual wishes and needs;
• Protecting consumers from hazards to their well being and safety;
• Developing effective means of redress for consumers
• Promoting and providing for consumers education, including education concerning the social and economic effects of consumer choices;
• Facilitating the freedom of consumers to associate and form groups to advocate and promote the common interest of consumers.

The definition of consumer of goods and services is wide but provides that certain transactions may be exempted in terms of the Act. Examples of some of the exemptions are; goods and services provided to the State, where the consumer is a juristic person whose asset value or annual turnover is equal or below a threshold value determined by the Minister.  Credit agreements under the National Credit Act are exempted, as are services supplied in terms of an employment contract. Collective bargaining agreements in terms of the Labour Relations Act. A regulatory authority may also apply to the Minister for an industry-wide exemption from one or more of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, on the grounds that those provisions overlap or duplicate a regulatory scheme in terms of other national legislation or any treaty, international law, convention or protocol.

Certain laws such as the short term insurance and the long term insurance Acts are excluded from the Consumer Protection Act, subject to those laws being aligned with the consumer protection measures provided for in the Consumer Protection Act within a period of 18 months from the commencement of the Consumer Protection Act. 

It is worth noting that the Housing Consumer Protection Measures Act is not an excluded statute. It is however probably that the NHBRC will apply for certain Ministerial exemptions in terms of Section 5(3) of the Consumer Protection Act.

Certain Chapters of the Consumer Protection Act will take effect on the date that is one year after the date on which the Consumer Protection Act was signed by the President (24 April 2010). 

It is likely that once the Consumer Protection Act is broadly applied it is likely to have considerable impact on the supply of goods and services in the building industry.

Pieter Rautenbach | Special Projects