Slamming the door on doorstep selling- government confirms scope of new doorstep selling regulations

On 16 June 2008, the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) published the Government's response (Response) to the consultation (Consultation) it launched in January 2008 on proposed new regulations on doorstep selling (Regulations).

The Regulations (The Cancellation of Contracts Made in a Consumer's Home or Place of Work etc. Regulations 2008) will replace, and apply more widely than, existing regulations on doorstep selling. They form part of the Government's legislative programme on consumer rights and complement the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2007 which came into force on 26 May 2008-look out for our articles to follow.

Consumers entering into contracts within the scope of the Regulations in their home, place of work or whilst on an excursion organised by a trader (such as timeshare or property investment clubs), will be afforded a cooling off period. The Regulations also provide for the automatic cancellation of a related credit agreement where a cancellation notice is served on a trader.

The Response clarifies that credit agreements regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) will be excluded from the Regulations pending transposition of the Consumer Credit Directive (2008/48/EC) (CCD) into UK law by 12 May 2010. In the Government's view, it would create confusion and unnecessary cost, duplication and technical problems to introduce cancellation provisions for regulated credit agreements, only to have to amend these when the right of withdrawal under the CCD is implemented. However, the OFT had argued that the exclusion should be limited to agreements which are cancellable under the CCA.

A final draft of the Regulations has not yet been published, but the Government plans to lay the Regulations before Parliament by 22 July 2008, with an intended commencement date of 1 October 2008.

The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.