Consumer Protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consumer Protection - Essay Example In order to deal with obstacles in contracts, the government must interfere with free contracts in a negative manner that to the majority of citizens it would seem positive. According to Green, the government had assumed unlimited powers of intervention (Gerven, Stuyck and Wouters 2001). According to Green’s statement, not citizen should be forced to enter in to a contract that is against his free will. Green emphasizes on the need of the government to intervene since it would be able to prevent tragedies from happening. According to Green, the government should promote and safeguard social, economic and political environments so that individuals can act freely according to their will (Howells 2010). However, the government should not excessively intervene in the consumer contracts since it may curtail the ability of individuals to act according to the conscience thus slowing down economic growth and development. The government is supposed to intervene in matters that endanger the consumer rights and liberties (Jones and Hutter 2011). According to Green, the State has the final decision in deciding how the industries should be regulated in order to safeguard the rights of the consumers (Howells and Weatherill 2005). ... The government also protects the consumers through regulations on information dissemination that aim at remedying the high market transactions costs and market distortions (Hancher 1990). The government also protects the rights of consumers on the standards of services offered by service providers like the medical services, insurance services and banking services. The government has a duty to protect the welfare of consumers in contracts, consumers rights are protected during bankruptcy proceedings (Gunning, Holm and Kenway 2009). There are numerous laws that protect consumer interests in the UK. For instance, the competition Act 1998 prohibits businesses from engaging in anti-competitive agreements during the course of their business operations (Goldring 1998). Some of the anti-competitive practices that have been outlawed are price fixing, agreements to reduce the volume of production, carve up markets and customer discrimination by charging different prices when difference of supp ly does not exist. The Act prohibits the businesses from use of dominant market power, like 40 percent market share to impose unfair trading practices to the consumers or to decline supplying to the existing customers without any justifiable reasons. Penalties for anti-competitive practices range from 10 percent of the company turnover to disqualification of the business directors (Turner and Martin 2005). In the UK, numerous Acts of Parliament have outlined the responsibilities of sellers to buyers. All the transactions between the buyer and seller are governed by a contract. According to the Sale of Goods Act of 1979, the goods sold must adhere to the description provided to the buyer.