Consumer Protection Act, No 68 of 2008

The Consumer Protection Act , 2008, (No 68 of 2008) was signed into law on 24 April 2009. The Act sets out the minimum requirements to ensure adequate consumer protection in South Africa. This Act constitutes an overarching framework for consumer protection, and all other laws which provides for consumer protection (usually within a particular sector) will need to be read with this Act to ensure a common standard of protection.

All suppliers of goods and services will need to take note of the new measures and ensure that they are able to comply once the Act becomes effective.
 
Chapters 1 and 5 of this Act, section 120 and any other provision authorising the Minister to make regulations became effective one year after the signing of the Act by the President, which was 24 April 2010.

The Consumer Protection Act, 2008 came into effect on 31 March 2011.

The Minister of Trade and Industry has given notice on 14 March 2011 in the Government Gazette that the Consumer Protection Act application to municipalities, other than high capacity municipalities, will be deferred until further notice. This will have the implication that consumers cannot apply the protection of the Act to transactions with these municipalities. The Minister also gave notice on 27 June 2011 in the Government Gazette on the following exemptions:

• banks will be exempt from section 14 of the Act which deals with the expiry and renewal of fixed term agreements;
• the Pension Fund Industry will be exempt from certain sections of the Act for a period of 18 months from 1 April 2011;
• the Collective Investment Scheme Industry will be exempt from certain sections of the Act for a period of 18 months from 1 April 2011;
• the Security Services Industry  will be exempt from certain sections of the Act indefinitely.

Documents:
Consumer Protection Act (Consumer Protection Act, no 68 of 2008) (250Kb PDF)
 
Government notices:

• Notice to Revoke the Application of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 to Municipalities (41Kb PDF)
• Notice to defer the application of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 to municipalities (89Kb PDF)
• Notice to exempt banks from the provisions section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 (38Kb PDF) 
• Notice to exempt the Pension Fund industry, the Collective Investment Schemes industry and the Security Services industry from the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 (42Kb PDF) 
 

The Minister of Trade and Industry has in terms of S120 (1) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008  published the Consumer Protection Act Regulations  in the Government Gazette No. 34180 dated 1 April 2011.

The Regulations provides information regarding following:

• dates and times that consumers may not be contacted for direct marketing purposes;
• product labelling and trade description requirements for certain textiles, clothing, shoes and leather goods;
• information to be disclosed by an intermediary as well as the records to be kept;
• reporting and record-keeping requirements for promotional competitions, as well as requirements regarding the fees to be charged where the competition is entered by SMS or MMS that exceeds the normal fee payable on the network;
• advertising of auctions in a manner that the general public has had an opportunity to become aware of the auction;
• detail regarding franchise agreements;
• the maximum period that a fixed term contract can be agreed on and the maximum cancellation fee that can be charged.

Documents:

• Consumer Protection Act Regulations as published on 1 April 2011 (220Kb PDF)
• Draft Consumer Protection Regulations (3MB PDF)
• Enforcement guidelines (2.4MB PDF) 

Submissions and Comments:

• SAICA CPA final comment letter (374Kb PDF) 
• SAICA CPA introduction letter (38Kb PDF)
• SAICA introduction letter on Enforcement guidelines (40Kb PDF) 
• SAICA comment letter on Enforcement guidelines (250Kb PDF)

Articles

• Communique, 19 August 2010 - Consumer Protection Act provides for prices of sale items to be displayed (50Kb PDF)
• Communique, 29 July 2010 - Consumer Protection Act provides for certain contracts to be in writing (80Kb PDF)
• Communique, 15 July 2010 – Consumer Protection Act addresses the consumers right to cancel a fixed contract after the expiry date (90Kb PDF)
• Communique, 1 July 2010 – Consumer Protection Act allows consumer cooling off period (25Kb PDF)
• Communique, 17 June 2010 – Consumer Protection Act introduces an implied warranty of quality on seller (113 Kb PDF)
• Communique, 3 June 2010 – Consumer Protection Act regulates franchise agreements (107 Kb PDF)
• Communique, 6 May 2010 - Consumer Protection Act extends strict liability definition (26kb PDF)
• Communique, 8 April 2010 - Consumer Protection Act protects consumers against unwanted direct marketing (100Kb PDF)
• Communique, 25 March 2010 - Consumer Protection Act clarifies indirect marketing practices (40Kb PDF)
• Communique, 11 March 2010 - Consumer Protection Act to outlaw the use of "trading as" (28kb PDF) 
• Communique, 25 February 2010 - Application of the Consumer Protection Act (20Kb PDF)
• Overview of the main features of the Consumer Protection Act (50KB PDF)

Source: The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants