SPRING 2020 TERMS & CONDITIONS As a trader, you can only use your terms and conditions to take action for a breach by a consumer if they are fair so be upfront with your customers When writing your terms and conditions, put yourself in your customers shoes, and dont use terms that you wouldnt sign up to yourself The Consumer Rights Acts 2015 states that a term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer. Put simply, a term is likely to be unfair if the consumer is put at a disadvantage. Certain terms are always unfair for example, those that try to limit a businesss liability in the event of death or personal injury resulting from negligence, or those that purport to restrict a consumers statutory rights. But Schedule 2 of the 2015 Act (sometimes known as the Grey List) contains 20 terms that could also be considered unfair. Terms in a contract must be expressed in plain, intelligible language, and be legible. If a term is in extremely small print, or uses complex legal terminology, it is unlikely to be fair. If you dont understand what is meant by it, the consumer wont either! Terms that could be unfair include those that may result in: n Consumers being denied full redress if things go wrong n Consumers being tied into a contract beyond what they would normally expect n The trader not having to perform their obligations n Consumers unfairly losing prepayments (such as deposits) if the contract is ended n The trader arbitrarily varying the terms after they have been agreed n Consumers being subject to disproportionate financial sanctions (for example, cancellation charges) When writing your terms and conditions, put yourself in your customers shoes, and dont use terms that you wouldnt like to sign up to yourself. Avoid ambiguity, and dont hide important wording or use small print that might surprise or mislead your customer. Use ordinary words and avoid legal jargon or technical language. There is particular concern over deposits, advance payments and cancellation charges. If a consumer cancels a contract with you and it is not your fault, you have the right to protect yourself but you can only retain what you are actually losing as a result of the consumers breach; you cannot impose excessive cancellation charges. You should always be clear and upfront about any charges your customer will have to pay if they are at fault and how these are determined and these should be reasonable. As well as affecting the enforceability of any contract, the use of unfair terms may lead to enforcement action by Trading Standards or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Credits: Sylvia Rook, Trading Standards Officer Image: iStock / K Neville / Jorgenmac For more information on consumer law, see the CMA leaflets and videos, or contact your local Trading Standards service. Get a slice of the procurement pie With the government announcing in February that the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project will go ahead, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is keen to ensure that small firms get their fair share of public sector contracts. The government wants to increase procurement spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to 33 per cent by 2020. However, an FSB report last year showed that just 23 per cent of SMEs had worked for the public sector over the previous 12 months, and their interest in competing for such contracts had fallen by 10 per cent. Research shows that for every 1 spent with an SME, 63p is re-spent in the local area compared with 40p in every 1 spent with a larger business. So the FSB is working with local authorities across the West Midlands to make it easier for small firms to bid for and win the smaller contracts. In addition, there are three huge opportunities in the pipeline for businesses across the Midlands (and beyond): HS2, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, and the Heathrow Expansion project. For larger-scale infrastructure projects such as these, specific information is required from contractors see TSBN Summer 2019 or the FSB website for more details. Karen Woolley, FSB development manager Make your mark in construction Under the Construction Products Regulations 2013 (CPR), a construction product must be CE marked to be legally marketed within Europe. The CE marking system is based on harmonised standards that define the methods and criteria for assessing the performance of products. Manufacturers must make sure their product performs in accordance with the relevant standard. Where no such standard exists, they must manufacture their product in accordance with a European Technical Assessment (ETA). and the standard or ETA with which it complies. Additional controls known as Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance ensure products continue to be made in accordance with the standard. Further information about UKrelated building product issues is available via the Product Contact Point for Construction, which can be a first point of call for manufacturers, importers and distributors. Trading Standards officers enforce the CPR, and can give local manufacturers advice about the marketing of their products. Contact the Trading Standards Institute for more details. Garry Brown, Trading Standards Officer For a CE mark to then be applied, manufacturers must draw up a Declaration of Performance. This is a publicly available document that gives details such as use of the product, its performance, For further information, please contact your local Trading Standards Service