Regulation of Electronic Marketing There are common European Union rules in relation to unsolicited contact by automatic means. The rules cover not only e-mail but also other automatic means of communication such as telephone, fax and telemarketing. In the e-mail context, the purpose is to suppress SPAM or so called unwanted unsolicited emails which might […]
Data Protection Under data protection law there are limitations on the use of third party personal information. The website should set out a privacy policy setting out how the business uses and protects information given when the website is used. It should set out the information which may be collected such as the personal particulars […]
Overview Data Protection legislation derive from European Union Directives. The English and Irish Date Protection Acts are broadly similar because of this common origin. Data Protection legislation applies to “personal information” which means information about living, identified or identifiable individuals. It includes information such as names, addresses, bank detail, opinions about an individual and so […]
Data Protection Legislation and Reform Data protection law restricts the collection, storage and use of personal data. Personal data is that which concerns a living person. The objective is to protect privacy and to restrict the use of information to legitimate purposes. Personal data must be collected for specified explicit and legitimate purposes and must […]
Advertising Codes Advertising is effectively controlled by Codes of Practice and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations requirements Codes of practice are self-regulating industry controls. In some cases, they have been adopted and are enforced by an independent regulator. The Advertising Standards Authority implemented the first British code of advertising practice in 1962. It […]
Implied Terms on the Sale of Goods The Sale of Goods Act provides rules which apply to contracts for the sale of goods. In cases where a consumer is involved (a sale to a member of the public) there are certain rules which are mandatory and the parties cannot be “contracted out”. This means that […]
Packaging, Labelling and Design There are general regulations in relation to fair trading which impact on the way products are packaged, labelled and presented. In addition there are specific rules that may apply to particular classes of product. The obligations at common law and under the Unfair Trading Regulations provide that business must not be […]
Passing of Ownership The moment of passing of ownership is important in the sale of goods. This is because the owner of goods can sell them and the seller only has a claim for the price. This is significant in the event of the buyer’s insolvency as the seller may only be unsecured creditor. For […]
UCPD Regulations The Unfair Commercial Practice Regulations harmonise fair trading laws in the European Union member states so as to facilitate the functioning of the single market. The UCPD prohibits unfair business practices in all sectors. Misleading actions, omissions and aggressive commercial practices are deemed unfair practices. Practices include courses of conducts, representations and communications […]
Unfair Contract Act The general rule of contract law is that the parties are bound by whatever they agree. In the past, sellers were entitled to impose whatever conditions they wanted in small print which could be deemed to be accepted and binding on the consumer, no matter how unfair their content. This approach did […]