164 The supply of goods and services

Q14 Consider the strengths and weaknesses of codes of practice in promoting good practice among traders and in protecting the users of services.

5â Recommended reading

Bradgate, R. Commercial Law (3rd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000) Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Guidance for Business on the Provision of

Services Regulations 2009 (October 2009)

Dobson, P. and Stokes, R. Commercial Law (7th edn, Sweet & Maxwell, London, 2008) Griffiths, M. and Griffiths, I. Law for Purchasing and Supply (3rd edn, Pearson Education

Ltd, Harlow, 2002)

Law Commission Law of Contract: Implied Terms in Contracts for the Supply of Services

(Report No. 156, 1986)

Office of Fair Trading A General Duty to Trade Fairly, Discussion Paper (London, 1986) â Trading Malpractices: A Report by the Director General of Fair Trading (London, 1990) Ramsay, I. Consumer Law and Policy: Texts and Materials on Regulating Consumer

Markets (2nd edn, Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2007)

The topic of the supply of services divides into two parts. The first relates to the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 and readers would benefit from reading the guidance published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The second, the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, is addressed in Dobson and Stokes, Commercial Law and Griffiths and Griffiths, Law for Purchasing and Supply. If readers want to learn more about the role of the OFT’s Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, this is available on the OFT’s website.

uk. In addition, another four Codes have satisfied Stage 1 of the approval process: Motor Sales (Service and Repair), Motor Codes (Vehicle Warranty Products), Renewable Energy Association and Safebuy. The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) withdrew from the scheme in 2005 as they were no longer able to satisfy the criteria, see Ramsay, above n. 53, at 472.

Part 2 Chapter 5

E-commerce and Distance Selling

Contents

1â Introduction

The sale of goods by some form of distance selling has been in place for many decades, initially through the use of advertisements and catalogues, but more latterly through TV advertising and the Internet. This chapter analyses the current legal controls over distance selling in its various forms.

Section 2 looks at the background to the subject and the rise of Internet selling. Section 3 analyses the requirements of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 including details of the trader; price; commercial communications; making the contract; placing the order; remedies; and electronic signatures.

Section 4 introduces the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and considers the provisions relating to information requirements; cancellation rights; and cancellation periods.

2â Background

The major development of the last twenty years in the law relating to the sale and supply of goods and services has been the dramatic move towards the purchase of goods and services via the Internet. Although distance selling occurred before this through the use of catalogues, telephone, etc., it has been the advent of the Internet which has occasioned a major change in the way in which both business buyers and consumers acquire goods and services. Given the prominence of Internet sales now, it seems hard to remember that the World Wide Web