Rights of Consumers and Responsibilities of Producers
1. What is the Fair Trading Act?
The Fair Trading Act protect you from being misled or treated unfairly by traders or shops. The Fair Trading Acts applies to anyone in a trade including all commercial activities, trades, professions and any undertaking relating to the supply of acquiring products and services.
2. What is the commerce commission's goal?
The Commerce Commission is ensuring New Zealand’s markets are competitive, consumers are well informed and protected, and sectors with little or no competition are appropriately regulated.
3. Who besides the commission is responsible for the act and can take their own legal action?
The Human Rights Act help ensures that all people in New Zealand are treated fairly and equally. The act also sets out the role of the Humans Rights Commision.
4. Who are the two types of groups the act applies to?
The act applies to businesses and consumers.
Understand your compliance obligations
1. What do the acts apply to?
The Fair Trading Act applies to anyone in the trading industry, from small businesses to huge businesses. All consumers are protected by the Fair Trading Act when they are buying from any businesses.
2. Whose 'shoes' must the business put themselves into?
They should put themselves in the consumer's shoes to make sure that they are being fair and reliable.
3. What is the commission empowered to do?
The commission enforces the fair trading act to prevent consumers from being misled.
Reporting a business
1. How do you report a business?
You can report a business to the commerce commision and they will investigate the business.
Know your Rights
It's important to know your rights as a consumer because you need the rights to be treated fairly. Businesses must not mislead you about any product because it is illegal to mislead consumers or give false information. The unfair contract term provisions are designed to protect consumers from any contract that are unfairly balanced towards the business. The fair trading act protects consumers from misleading, unfair trading practices and unfair contract terms.