DESCRIPTION:
The first part of this session will cover the new consumer protection laws relating to sale of goods contracts, service contracts and sale of digital content contracts. It will examine:
the new statutory rights which replace the former implied terms (implied by ss 12-15 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979);
the additional remedies now available to consumers in instances where the seller/service provider breaches one of the statutory rights and the extent to which a seller or supplier is entitled to exclude liability thereof;
the new statutory provisions relating to the responsibility for loss or damage to goods before the consumer has possession thereof.
The second part of the session will examine the new criteria which must be complied with for an exclusion clause/unfair term to be effectively relied upon by a business party contracting with a consumer. It will conclude with an examination of those terms which appear in the Schedule to the Act and are deemed to be unfair and ineffective.
The seminar will be delivered by Brian Collins. Brian has forty years experience teaching Consumer Law at the University of Ulster and other educational institutions. He acted as a consultant to DG XXIV (Consumer Policy Directorate) of the European Commission and has published a number of articles on consumer law in various publications (English, French and Spanish).