CONSUMER PROTECTION AND SAFETY ACT - TTBizLink

1 1/2006 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOAct30 of 1985 Amended by22 of 1998 Current Authorised PagesPagesAuthorised(inclusive)by PROTECTION AND SAFETY ACTCHAPTER 82:34 MINISTRY OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 2007 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO2 Chap. 82:34 CONSUMER PROTECTION and SafetyIndex of Subsidiary LegislationPageAdverse Trade Practices Order (LN 125/2000)..50 MINISTRY OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 1/2006 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOC onsumer PROTECTION and SafetyChap. 82:343 CHAPTER 82:34 CONSUMER PROTECTION AND SAFETY ACTARRANGEMENT OF inconsisitent with and other functions of Guidance of office of members of the and decisions of and powers of the IIPROTECTION OF of CONSUMER trade practice . to determine economic to Council proposing recommendation to Minister to (Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1998). of recommendation proposed in reference to which section of Council on reference to which section 12 of Minister in pursuance of report on referrence to whichsection 12 for contravening Order under section due to default of other in proceedings under section of effect of Orders under section 16.

2 (Repealed by Act No. 22 of 1998).}MINISTRY OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 2007 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO4 Chap. 82:34 CONSUMER PROTECTION and SafetyPART IIIADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS OF DIRECTORFOR PROTECTION OF functions of to give satisfactory written of, or undertaking given to, Court in proceedings undersection consenting to or conniving at courses of conduct detrimentalto interests of of undertaking given to Court in proceedings under section as to interconnected bodies from decisions or orders of Court under Part IVCONSUMER Regulations in respect of against the SAFETY and Notices to prohibit supply of goods or give warning ofdanger from to obtain of Authorised to make test to enter premises and inspect and seize goods and in connection with exercise of powers under section of OF SECTIONS ContinuedSECTIONMINISTRY OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 1/2006 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOC onsumer PROTECTION and SafetyChap.

3 82:345 PART VIMISCELLANEOUS AND of of information and limit for by bodies on disclosure of SCHEDULE (Deleted by Act No. 22 of 1998).SECOND SCHEDULE Matters falling within scope of proposals under section 14 (2).THIRD SCHEDULE Prohibition Orders, Prohibition Notices and Notices to SCHEDULE Certificate of Designated Authorised OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 2007 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO6 Chap. 82:34 CONSUMER PROTECTION and SafetyCHAPTER 82:34 CONSUMER PROTECTION ANDSAFETY ACTAn Act to make provision with respect to the PROTECTION andsafety of consumers and others.[20TH OCTOBER 1986]WHEREAS it is enacted by section 13(1) of the Constitution that anAct of Parliament to which that section applies may expresslydeclare that it shall have effect even though inconsistent withsections 4 and 5 of the Constitution and, if any Act does so declare,it shall have effect accordingly:And whereas it is provided in section 13(2) of the Constitutionthat an Act of Parliament to which that section applies is one theBill for which has been passed by both Houses of Parliament andat the final vote thereon in each House has been supported by thevotes of not less than three-fifths of all the members of that House:And whereas it is necessary and expedient that the provisionsof this Act shall have effect notwithstanding sections 4 and 5 ofthe Constitution:1.

4 (1)This Act may be cited as the CONSUMER Protectionand SAFETY Act.(2)This Act shall have effect even though inconsistentwith sections 4 and 5 of the (1)In this Act agreement means any agreement or arrangement, in whateverway and in whatever form it is made, and whether it is, oris intended to be, legally enforceable or not; business includes a professional practice and includes any otherundertaking which is carried on for gain or reward or whichis an undertaking in the course of which goods or servicesare supplied otherwise than free of charge;30 of [227/1986]. OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 1/2006 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOC onsumer PROTECTION and SafetyChap. 82:347 commercial activities in Trinidad and Tobago means any of thefollowing, that is to say, the production and supply of goodsin Trinidad and Tobago, the supply of services in Trinidadand Tobago and the export of goods from Trinidad and Tobago; conditional sale agreement means an agreement for the sale ofgoods under which the purchase price or part of it is payableby instalments, and the property in the goods is to remain inthe seller, notwithstanding that the buyer is to be inpossession of the goods until such conditions as to thepayment of instalments or otherwise as may be specified inthe agreement are fulfilled; Council means the CONSUMER Guidance Council establishedby section 5(1).

5 CONSUMER , subject to subsection (2), means any person whois either (a)a person to whom goods are or are sought to besupplied in the course of a business carried on bythe person supplying or seeking to supply them, or(b)a person to whom services are or are sought to besupplied in the course of a business carried on bythe person supplying or seeking to supply them,and who does not receive or seek to receive the goods orservices in the course of a business carried on by him; contract of employment means a contract of service or ofapprenticeship, whether it is express or implied, and if it isexpress whether it is oral or in writing; credit sale agreement means an agreement for the sale of goodsunder which the purchase price is payable by five or moreinstalments, but which is not a conditional sale agreement; the Director means the Director of CONSUMER Guidance; goods means, except in Part IV, commodities such as are thesubject of trade or commerce and includes buildings andother structures, ships, aircraft but does not include electricity; hire-purchase agreement means an agreement for the bailmentof goods under which the bailee may buy the goods or underwhich the property in the goods will or may pass to theMINISTRY OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 2007 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO8 Chap.

6 82:34 CONSUMER PROTECTION and Safetybailee, and where by virtue of two or more agreements, noneof which by itself constitutes a hire purchase agreement,there is a bailment of goods and either the bailee may buythe goods, or the property therein will or may pass to thebailee, the agreements shall be treated for the purposes ofthis Act as a single agreement made at the time when thelast of the agreements was made; notice means notice in writing; Notice to Warn has the meaning assigned to it in section 31(1); personal injury includes disease and other impairment of aperson s physical or mental condition; practice means any practice, whether adopted in pursuance ofan agreement or otherwise; produce , in relation to the production of minerals or othersubstances, includes winning them, and, in relation to theproduction of animals or fish, includes taking them; Prohibition Notice has the meaning assigned to it in section 31(1); Prohibition Order has the meaning assigned to it in section 31(1); publicised information , in relation to a disclosure, meansinformation which before the disclosure occurred, waspublished in proceedings mentioned in section 32(3)(a) or (b)or in warning mentioned in section 32(3)(d); SAFETY Regulations has the meaning assigned to it in section 29(1).

7 (2)The following applies to the definition of CONSUMER in this section:(a)it is immaterial whether any person supplyinggoods or services has a place of business inTrinidad and Tobago or not;(b)any goods or services supplied wholly or partlyoutside Trinidad and Tobago, if they are suppliedin accordance with arrangements made inTrinidad and Tobago, whether made orally or byone or more documents delivered in Trinidad andTobago or by correspondence posted from andto addresses in Trinidad and Tobago, shall betreated as goods supplied to, or services suppliedfor, persons in Trinidad and Tobago;MINISTRY OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 1/2006 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOC onsumer PROTECTION and SafetyChap. 82:349Ch. 82:33.(c)in relation to the supply of goods under ahire purchase agreement, a credit-sale agreementor a conditional sale agreement, the personconducting any antecedent negotiations, as wellas the owner or seller, shall be treated as a personsupplying or seeking to supply the goods; and inthis paragraph buyer , hirer , owner and seller have the meanings assigned to them bysection 2(1) of the Hire Purchase Act and antecedent negotiations means any negotiationsor arrangements with the hirer or buyer wherebyhe was induced to make the agreement or whichotherwise promoted the transaction to which theagreement relates.

8 (d)any reference (i)to a person to or for whom goods or servicesare supplied shall be construed as includinga reference to any guarantor of such aperson, and(ii)to the terms or conditions on or subject towhich goods or services are supplied shallbe construed as including a reference tothe terms or conditions on or subject towhich any person undertakes to act assuch a guarantor,and in this paragraph guarantor , in relation to aperson to or for whom goods or services aresupplied, includes a person who undertakes toindemnify the supplier of the goods or servicesagainst any loss which he may incur in respectof the supply of the goods or services to or forthat person;(e)goods or services supplied by a person carryingon a business shall be taken to be supplied in thecourse of that business if payment for the supplyof the goods or services is made, or (whetherunder a contract or by virtue of a written law orotherwise) is required to be OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 2007 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO10 Chap.

9 82:34 CONSUMER PROTECTION and SAFETY (3)In this Act the supply of services does not includethe rendering of any services under a contract of employment but,with that exception (a)includes the undertaking and performance forgain or reward of engagements, whetherprofessional or other, for any matter other thanthe supply of goods; and(b)includes both the rendering of services to orderand the provision or services by making themavailable to potential users,and any reference in those provisions to services supplied, or tobe supplied, or to services provided or to be provided, shall beconstrued accordingly.(4)For the purposes of this Act, any two bodiescorporate are to be treated as interconnected if one of them is abody corporate of which the other is a subsidiary, within themeaning of section 125 of the Companies Ordinance* (or thecorresponding section of any Act replacing that Ordinance), or ifboth of them are subsidiaries, within the meaning of that section,of one and the same body corporate; and in those provisions interconnected bodies corporate shall be construed accordingly,and group of interconnected bodies corporate means a groupconsisting of two or more bodies corporate all of whom areinterconnected with each other.

10 (5)For the purposes of the application of any provisionof this Act in relation to goods or services of a particulardescription or to which a particular practice applies, consumers means persons who are consumers, as defined by subsection (1),in relation to goods or services of that description or in relation togoods or services to which that practice IINTRODUCTORY3.(1)There shall be a public officer to be designated as Directorof CONSUMER Guidance (hereafter referred to as the Director ) toperform the functions assigned to the Director by or under this Act.* The Companies Ordinance has been repealed and replaced by the Companies Act, Ch. 81:01.* andother OF LEGAL TO DECEMBER 31ST 1/2006 LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOC onsumer PROTECTION and SafetyChap. 82:3411 Generalfunctions ofDirector.(2)There shall be such number of public officers as maybe required for the purposes of this (1)Without prejudice to any other functions assigned tohim by or under this Act, the Director shall, so far as appears tohim to be practicable from time to time (a)keep under review the carrying on of commercialactivities in Trinidad and Tobago which relate togoods supplied to consumers in Trinidad andTobago or produced with a view to their being sosupplied, or which relate to services supplied forconsumers in Trinidad and Tobago, and to collectinformation with respect to such activities, andthe persons by whom they are carried on, with aview to his becoming aware of, and ascertainingthe circumstances relating to, practices which mayadversely affect the economic interests ofconsumers in Trinidad and Tobago;(b)receive a