UK Offence Report

Inertia Selling

regulation 24(5) of The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

5 A person who, not having reasonable cause to believe there is

a right to payment, in the course of any business and with

a view to obtaining payment for what he knows are unsolicited goods sent or services supplied as mentioned in paragraph (4)—

a threatens to bring any legal proceedings, or

b places or causes to be placed the name of any person on

a list of defaulters or debtors or threatens to do so, or

c invokes or causes to be invoked any other collection procedure or threatens to do so, is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: reasonable cause to believe.

What would breach regulation 24(5)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2000-10-31); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Revoked
Revoked by
The Payment Services Regulations 2009 (revoked)
Made
31 August 2000
In force from
31 October 2000
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations implement Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 20 May 1997 (O.J. No. L144, 4.6.97, p.19) on the protection of consumers in relation to distance contracts, with the exception of Article 10. The Regulations apply to contracts for goods or services to be supplied to a consumer where the contract is made exclusively by means of distance communication, that is any means used without the simultaneous physical presence of the consumer and the supplier (regulations 3 and 4). Schedule 1 contains an indicative list of means of distance communication. The Regulations do not apply to those distance contracts excluded by regulation 5(1), such as contracts relating to the supply of financial services. The Regulations have limited application to contracts for the supply of groceries by regular delivery and contracts for the provision of accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services (regulation 6). The Regulations require the supplier to provide the consumer with the information referred to in regulation 7 prior to the conclusion of the contract. This includes information on the right to cancel the distance contract, the main characteristics of the goods or services, and delivery costs where appropriate. Regulation 8 requires the supplier to confirm in writing, or another durable medium which is available and accessible to the consumer, information already given and to give some additional information, including information on the conditions and procedures relating to the exercise of the right to cancel the contract. Regulation 8(3) requires the supplier to inform the consumer prior to conclusion of a contract for services that he will not be able to cancel once performance of the service has begun with his agreement. Where the Regulations apply, they provide a “cooling off period” to enable the consumer to cancel the contract by giving notice of cancellation to the supplier. The effect of giving notice of cancellation under the Regulations is that the contract is treated as if it had not been made. Where the supplier supplies the information to the consumer on time, the cooling-off period is 7 working days from the day after the date of the contract, in the case of services, or from the day after the date of delivery of the goods. Where the supplier fails to comply with the information requirement at all, the cooling-off period is extended by 3 months. Where the supplier complies with the information requirement later than he should have done but within 3 months the cooling-off begins from the date he provided the information (regulations 10–12). Certain contracts are excluded from the right to cancel unless the parties agree otherwise, such as a contract for the supply of goods made to the consumer’s specifications (regulation 13). If the consumer cancels, the consumer must be reimbursed within a maximum period of 30 days (regulation 14). Where the consumer cancels the contract, any related credit agreement is automatically cancelled (regulation 15). Regulation 17 provides that on cancellation of the contract the consumer is under a duty to restore goods to the supplier if he collects them and in the meantime to take reasonable care of them. The Regulations do not require the consumer to return goods but if he is required to under the contract and does not do so, he must pay the cost to the supplier of recovering them. The Regulations provide that the contract must be performed within 30 days subject to agreement between the parties. However, where the supplier is not able to provide the goods or service ordered, substitutes may be offered if certain conditions are met (regulation 19). The Regulations provide that where the consumer’s payment card is used fraudulently in connection with a distance contract the consumer will be entitled to cancel the payment. If the payment has already been made the consumer will be entitled to a re-credit or to have all sums returned by the card issuer. The Regulations amend the Consumer Credit Act 1974 by removing the potential liability of the debtor under a regulated consumer credit agreement for the first £50 of loss to the creditor from misuse of a credit-token in connection with a distance contract. The Regulations prohibit the supply of unsolicited goods and services to consumers. Regulation 24 replaces with amendments section 1 of the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1971 and Article 3 of the Unsolicited Goods and Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1976. It also creates an offence in similar terms to section 2 of the 1971 Act but extended to the supply of unsolicited services and limited to supply to consumers. The scope of section 2 of the 1971 Act and Article 4 of the 1976 Order (which apply only to goods) is amended to restrict their application to the unsolicited supply of goods to businesses. The Director General of Fair Trading, Trading Standards Departments in Great Britain and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland are enforcement authorities for the purposes of the Regulations. Regulation 26 provides that an enforcement authority must consider complaints about a breach of the requirements of the Regulations. Those bodies are given the power to take proceedings for an injunction against a business to prevent further breaches (regulation 27). A Regulatory Impact Assessment is available, copies of which have been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies are also available from the Consumer Affairs Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry, Room 415, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source