E-commerce, Distance Selling Regulations - Essay Example

This exclusion has been implemented by the Distance Selling Regulation 5 (1) (f).3.Auctions are not however excluded from the scope of the E-commerce Directive 2000/31/EC. 4. It seems therefore, that for purposes of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, an internet auction may be regarded as an 'auction', so that the consumer protection provisions apply to business sellers in internet auctions.5 The effect of this definition is that sellers of goods have to comply with the implied terms in sections 12 (title), 13 (sale by description), 14 (implied terms about quality and fitness) and 15 (sale by sample).

According to Section 14(2) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 " Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality." Many issues arise in this context for example whether the provider of an auction platform is liable for the goods sold on his platform if they are not of satisfactory quality.What if the consumer is unable to locate the seller of the goodsHere Regulation 19 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 would apply if the online provider merely hosted the website and would be immune to criminal liability where had no actual knowledge that the goods being sold on his website were not of satisfactory quality.

The online provider would also be immune against civil liability where the auction provider does not have actual knowledge of the unlawful activities or information . So for example an auction provider would not be liable in damages for a goods which were defective unless he had actual or constructive knowledge of this problem.However the position would change if the Auction service provider has received sufficiently precise notice about the defective goods and does not stop advertising them.

6 Also where a business seller engages in unfair commercial practices on an auction platform towards consumer sellers, Regulation 19 would not stop the Office of Fair Trading from taking enforcement action against the provider of the auction platform.The auction provider will also be subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Consumer to Consumer Transactions Last but not the least Section 14 does not apply to consumer to consumer sales although the advent of online bidding has increased the complications caused by such transactions.

For example the EBay system has blurred the difference between sellers and buyers with its simplified selling arrangement.________________________________________________________________Critically consider the application of the Distance Selling Regulations in the context of contracts made using e-mail or through a web-page.This question requires the discussion of the UK Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations which came into force on 31 October 2000 and implemented