Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
UNDER PRESSURE: REGULATING AGGRESSIVE COMMERCIAL PRACTICES IN THE UK
Peter Cartwright *
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive is perhaps the most significant piece of European consumer law to date. The Directive was implemented in the UK by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (“the CPRs” ). Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the CPRs is the creation of a regime for dealing with aggressive commercial practices, and it is surprising that the regime has received so little academic comment. This is particularly so given the novelty of the provisions and their significant implications for businesses and consumers. The purpose of this article is to examine the provisions of the CPRs which deal with aggressive commercial practices. It will be argued that the provisions introduce welcome additional protection for consumers, but that their effectiveness is compromised by a lack of clarity regarding their scope, and the existence of inadequate powers on the part of those enforcing them.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (hereafter “the Directive”) is perhaps the most significant piece of European consumer law to date.1 The Directive was implemented in the UK by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (“CPRs”).2 In
* Professor of Consumer Protection Law, University of Nottingham.
The following abbreviations are used in the footnotes:
Collins: H Collins “Harmonisation by Example: European Laws against Unfair Commercial Practices” (2010) 73(1) MLR 89;
CPRs: Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (SI 1277/2008);
Directive: Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: Directive 2005/29/EC (2008);
Guidance: BERR and OFT, GUIDANCE on the UK Regulations (May 2008) implementing the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2008);
Howells: G Howells “Aggressive Commercial Practices”, ch 6 of G Howells, Hans-W Micklitz and Thomas Wilhelmsson (eds), European Fair Trading Law: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Aldershot, 2006);
Ramsay: I Ramsay, Consumer Law and Policy (2nd edn) (Oxford, 2007);
Twigg-Flesner: C Twigg-Flesner, D Parry, G Howells and A Nordhausen, An Analysis of the Application and Scope of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (London, 2005);
Weatherill: S Weatherill and U Bernitz, The Regulation of Unfair Commercial Practices under EC Directive 2005/29: New Rules and New Techniques (Abingdon, 2007);
Willett: C Willett, “Unfairness under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008”, ch 18 of M Kenny, J Devenney and L Fox O’Mahoney (eds), Unconscionability in European Private Financial Transactions (Cambridge, 2010).
1. Directive 2005/29/EC.
2. SI 1277/2008.
LLOYD’S MARITIME AND COMMERCIAL LAW QUARTERLY
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