Date of Royal Assent 17 December 1986 | ||
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The Fair Trading Act 1986 is a statute of New Zealand. Its purpose is to encourage competition and to protect consumers/customers from misleading and deceptive conduct and unfair trade practices.
The Fair Trading Act provides for consumer information standards. Under the Act, the Commerce Commission enforces product safety standards on items such as bicycles and flammability of children's night clothing.
Main rules
The Act protects customers from unfair conduct. Unfair conduct has been classified in the act as the following:
- Misleading and deceptive conduct: Generally, in relation to goods, in relation to services and in relation to employment
- Unsubstantial representation
- False representations
- Unfair practices: These include but are not limited to Bait advertising, referral selling and trading stamp schemes. Regulation relation to Trading stamp schemes however has been repealed.
Part 2 of the Act also looks at Consumer information. It defines standards and also compliance requirements.
A 2015 amendment increased protection against "unfair contracts".
References
Fair Trading Act 1986 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA