Consumer Protection Act limps on

"The regulations have not been made available and without them, the Act's implementation could be a bit of a damp squib," says Neil Kirby, director of Healthcare and Life Sciences at corporate and commercial law firm Werksmans Attorneys.

The Consumer Protection Act is coming into effect in stages, starting with the "early effective date" on Thursday, 29 April 2010.

This is when the Act's product liability provisions will become legally binding on manufacturers and retailers, whom consumers will be able to sue for damages for selling flawed or harmful products.

"The lack of regulations doesn't stop consumers from using the Act to get a faulty product fixed or to sue for damages but product liability is not the only consumer-related issue with which the Act deals," he says.

"The rest of its provisions are due to come into effect at the end of October - on the 'general effective date' - and nothing at all appears to be in place for it.

"Such a state of affairs is inconsistent with the gradual coming into force of this legislation, which is designed to make it easier for consumers and suppliers to deal with the Act and integrate its provisions into our commercial affairs."

Draft regulations should ideally have been made available months ago for public debate but, with the 'early effective date' already upon us, there is still no sign of any progress in the offing.

"The problem is that until we have regulations that flesh out the legislation, it is rather like a car without an engine," says Kirby.

Furthermore with no regulations spelling out the scope and ambit of exemptions and thresholds, it is difficult for consumers and business alike to understand how the consumer protection framework will work in practice.

"The regulations would have told us what organisations and products would be directly affected by the Act and which would be exempted, what regulatory assistance would consequently be available to consumers, and how the Act would be enforced," says Kirby.

"If South Africa is to build a culture of taking consumer rights seriously, it would be nice to have the regulations in place.

"Otherwise, we are just creating another legislative showpiece."