Critical Analysis of the Consumers Rights Act 2015

This article provides a critical analysis of the Consumers Rights Act 2015, including its key provisions and its impact on British businesses. It discusses the changes in consumer legislation and the importance of the Act for businesses. The Act aims to simplify, strengthen, and modernize consumer rights, providing clear and updated regulations for goods, services, and digital content.

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CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONSUMERS RIGHTS ACT 2015
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Introduction
The Consumers Right Act 2015, was implemented on October 1st 2015, replacing a
number of major pieces of consumer legislation. This included the :Sales of Goods Act,
Supply of Goods and Services Act , and Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Act .CRA 2015
was primarily introduced as a way of simplifying , strengthening and modernising the rights
of every consumer. The state of consumer legislation before the CRA 2015 implementation
had been considered as unnecessarily and fragmented. Earlier the laws were developed in a
piecemeal fashion through the implementation of primary and secondary legislation, as well
as through the case laws such as the landmark case of Donoghue v Stevenson. Motivated in
parts by the need to increase consumer confidence as well as the requirement to develop a
broader EU reform proposal. The UK government established an extensive consultation on
the reform programs, declaring a fundamental policy to ensure proper understanding of
consumer rights. A package of reform processes culminated to the implementation of the
CRA 2015.The process of consultation included the publication of benchmarking studies by
the University of East Anglia in 2008 and other different reports and suggestions by the law
commission and the Scottish law commission (Hall, and Watson, 2012).
Key Provisions of the CRA 2015
The consumer Rights Act of 2015 effected some fundamental changes to the pre-
existent consumer laws. The Act covers multiple aspects of dealing with consumers, but most
specifically the supply of good, services and digital content (Cortés, 2016). As indicated
earlier, it supplements the old approach to information and cancellation rights, implemented
earlier in the years. These old parts provides some of the major provisions of this new
legislation.

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Chapter 2 of the Act is concerned with goods and is stated to be applicable to sales
contracts, hire contracts, agreements on hire purchase among other contracts involved with
the transfer of goods. The chapter excludes contracts related to currency transfers, mortgages
among others. This is a first-hand legislative remedy that is applicable within the initial 30
days after goods being delivered unless the lifespan of the product is much shorter than this
period. It is the right of every consumer to treat an agreement as at an end and obtain a
compensation but must ensure that the goods are accessible for collection by the seller (Hall,
Howells, and Watson, 2012). Under this provision, the trader is liable for the cost of
collecting goods from the buyer, unless the agreement necessitates the buyer to return the
goods to the place the made an agreement, or the consumer took the goods willingly. In such
instances, the short term rights are not applicable, especially where the only breach is related
to incorrect installation (Giliker, 2015).
Section 9 provides that, goods, ought to be of satisfactory quality. Section 10 further
supports this by providing that all goods traded to the consumer requirements to be fit and all
its purposes made known to the consumer before any contract is concluded. However,
exceptions are made if the consumer if it was unreasonable for the consumer to rely upon the
judgement of the trader. Section 11 to 18 contains some further important requirements,
regarding conformance to description and samples. Section 19 to 24 contains the rights of
consumers if provided with defective goods (Loos, 2016). They include the right to reject,
right to repair and replacement of the goods and well as the right for a price reduction.
Section 34 to 41 provides the standards for the supply of digital content. This
includes the requirements related to the content being of satisfactory quality, for consumer
purposes, and as described (Purdam, Garratt, & Esmail, 2016). If there are features of the
digital product that the trader envisions to protect from claims, it is important such issues are
brought to the buyer’s attention before a contract is concluded, and in any case that involves

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trial content. Section 39 provides key provisions to the availability of physical processing
facilities after the content has been supplied. Where the processing facilities are to be made
available, this has to be done within a reasonable time, unless the contract provides a specific
timeframe (Rodger, 2015).
Section 35 of the CRA 2015 provides that, digital content will always be provided in
tangible forms such as music on a CD or provided in intangible forms such as Mp3
downloads. This also includes virtual products in online gaming where they have been
purchased with either physical or virtual currency that the customer has paid for (Loos,
2016). This sections also provides that digital goods can be offered for a one-off-payment or
through continuing subscriptions. The principles applicable to digital product, which are
often motivated by the standard of goods, are that it must have the required quality levels, and
suitable for its purpose.
These rights and remedies are not just applicable where digital products are frankly
being provided for free. Nevertheless, the act does not include special rights of the consumer
to get compensation or repairs where digital content has been supplied under a contract.
Moreover, it does not protect any damage to a digital product they own that could have been
prevented if the trader exercised sensible care and ability. Rather, the CRA imposes key
terms that the trader has the right to supply the digital products. In the occasion that these
terms are breached, it is the right of the consumer to have full compensation unless only some
parts of the digital products supplied are affected (Micklitz, 2016).
Policies behind the Act which drove legal developments in UK businesses
For quite a long period, consumers and businesses in the UK have been struggling to
understand the complex pre-existent rules, applicable when purchasing goods and services.

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This is one of the key reasons why the CRA 2015 is an important statute in providing clear
and updated consumers rights for products, services and most important, digital content.
The CRA 2015 brought new rules that businesses must comply with when they supply
goods, services or any form of digital content to the consumers. These rules are applicable to
a business if it is selling in the course of trade and they are not covering B2B transactions.
But business ought to be aware that, if someone purchases goods for mixed reasons (business
or personal), they might be considered as consumers for the purpose of the new regulations.
Giliker, (2017) indicates that the act advocates for the recognition of the significance
of a consumer-oriented approach and most importantly, clear acknowledgement that buyers
also have their rights. In introducing the CRA 2015, the UK administration expressly
recognized that various challenges had developed in the implementation of the Consumer
Sales Directive 99/44/EC alongside other pre-existing UK legislations. Therefore, the act
replaces earlier legislation, responding to concerns raised by a majority of businesses and
consumers as well.
Gabriel, & Lang, (2015) supports this idea by pointing out that “those supporting
Europeanisation consider that this legal shift has finally succeeded and the UK law experts
have come to understand that good faith is the best standard on behavior, both for businesses
and the consumers.” This form of reasoning is primarily pragmatic. Ohlhausen, & Okuliar,
(2015) further describes the reorganization of the CRA as to bring into the UK regulations a
direct system of legal frameworks, understandable for those unversed with certain areas of
consumer laws. In specific, the decision to develop a new variety of consumer-friendly
frameworks in the already pre-existent consumer laws leaves the consumers with a coherent
system that guides them to be well informed. Informed customers are important for ensuring
continued growth of a strong economy (Parag, & Darby, 2009).

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The situation is further improved by the fact that the CRA 2015 is a maximum
harmonisation law. This implies that it allows the government to maintain or present more
protective procedures if consistent with the provisions of the Act (Reich, et al., 2014). While
this would ensure high standards of protection among UK consumers, it inevitably gives rise
to the diversity between the national laws and the EU directives on consumer protection.
The UK administration has focused on ensuring that the required changes to the pre-
existing laws have been achieved. The procedures stipulated in the CRA are promoted to a
higher profile; primary legislation. This law may further mirror on the knowledge of
including all the provisions of a supreme harmonisation rule emphasizing on the rights of all
consumers (von Hippel, Ogawa, & PJ de Jong, 2011).
How important you consider the Act to be for British businesses
The primary objective of the CRA act 2015 to the British businesses is to consolidate
rather than change most of the existing frameworks of law that were earlier used to protect
both the businesses and their customers. However, in clarifying and updating the consumer
rules, the Act has, in fact, made a number of fundamental changes that were not there before
(Howells, & Weatherill, 2017). Most of the changes have a positive impact on the business
and the consumer as well. The law allows businesses to consider carefully whether there
existing terms and conditions are in accordance with the consumer needs. Businesses that
might be offering digital content are now considering better insurance covers against the
exposures in relation to faulty products.

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