consumer
1. the nature of consumer law
developing need for consumer protection
grown over time as specialist products require a highly specialised level of product knowledge, growth in online shopping ($52.7 billion in 2022, 12.6% increase) , increased competition in advertising ($23 billion indutry by 2023, $15.8 in 2018)
caveat emptor: ‘let the buyer beware’ implying that consumers should use their own care and knowledge to protect themselves against exploitation. It is based on the assumption that the buyer and seller meet on equal terms
laissez-faire economy: an economic system in which the state refrains from interering with markets by regulation or by other means. however, due to the power imbalance between buyers and sellers, governments have created laws to address the need for consumer protection
the definition of consumer
the Australian Consumer Laws (ACL) is uniform legislation for consumer proection, applying as the law of the Commonwealth of Australia and is incorporated into the law of each of Australia’s states and territories. The law commenced 1 January 2011, replacing 20 different consumer laws across the commonwealth and the states and territories. It is set out in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (previously known as the Trade Practices Act 1974)
- consumer: a person who acquires goods or services that are priced less than $100 000 (s.3 of the ALC)
- consumers expect that the products they are buying will work properly for a period of time as indicated by the manufacturer and that the services they receive will be of a standard promised by the supplier
objectives of consumer laws
The primary objective of consumer law is to protect the legal rights of consumers when purchasing goods or services while supporting an effective marketplace. They achieve this by:
- Educating the public to make them aware of their rights
- Fix the imbalance between consumers and businesses
- Articulating and mandating standards for the quality of goods and services - promotes transparency and accountability
- Providing remedies for consumers implementing weights and measures laws that provide consumers with reliable benchmarks of quality
- Ensuring that various occupations are licensed
- Protecting consumers in a time of global advertising, mass marketing and e-commerce where there has been a marked reduction in personal interaction
- Regulating contractual relationships between buyers and sellers
- Guarding against unsafe and defective products
- Helping vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers
The law relates to the interaction between manufacturers, the state and consumers.