On 13 June 2014, The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 came into force. This legislation replaced The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. CAP was obliged to consider the compatibility of its rules with the new legislation. This provided CAP with an opportunity to consider whether to continue to reflect distance selling legislation in its Code.

CAP’s distance selling rules fell into two broad categories: 

  • pre-contractual information requirements; and 
  • post-contractual matters 
Between November 2014 and January 2015, CAP consulted on proposals to remove both rule categories. CAP considered that rules preventing misleading advertising effectively governed information requirements for ads. CAP considered that post-contractual matters are not strictly speaking advertising issues. 

CAP did not receive many complaints under its distance selling rules. Many complaints received also fell under the “Sales promotions” rules. These factors, combined with Trading Standards Authorities’ enforcement of distance selling legislation, persuaded CAP to remove most of its rules. CAP retained certain rules relating to the environment, re-housing them in the “Environmental Claims” section. The changes took effect on 6 August 2015. 

 

Supporting documents: 

  CAP distance selling evaluation table.pdf  
  CAP Distance Selling consultation.pdf

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