business i - Business Link in the South West

The Consumer Credit Act 2006 affects a wide range of businesses - from money lenders and debt collectors to companies where credit is secondary to their main business activity (such as car dealers or retailers).

Under the new rules, businesses must follow proper procedures when dealing with consumer credit related complaints. If they don’t, customers have the right to refer unresolved disputes to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The newly introduced ‘unfair relationships’ test provides a single standard of conduct to consumer credit licensed businesses. Talking about the new rules, the Office of Fair Trading said “The Act will enable borrowers to challenge credit agreements in court on the grounds that the relationship between the parties is unfair.”

To foster improved communication between lender and borrower, the law introduces new requirements for keeping customers adequately informed on the state of their credit accounts. Information including annual statements, arrears notices and information on fees and charges must be sent to customers. Lenders must also include additional information in default notices and give notice before applying post-judgement interest.

The Act also gives the Office of Fair Trading greater powers to investigate cases of misconduct, and the ability to issues sanctions, including fines of up to £50,000 or the suspension of licenses for breach of the rules.

Business Link Business Adviser Peter Weeks says “The Office of Fair Trading is looking to weed out rogue businesses, and customers now have greater rights to resolution through the Financial Ombudsman. If you want to maintain your consumer credit status, find out more about the changes and implement procedures as soon as possible”.

In detail - More information on the Consumer Credit Act 2006

More info - Does my business need consumer credit licensing?

Information about upcoming regulation changes - including regulations affecting specific sectors - can be found at the Regulation updates section on the Business Link website.

Employers must comply with important new employment rules that come into force this week.

The changes involve a major overhaul of regulations affecting employees’ maternity, paternity and adoption rights. Whilst new flexible working laws mean that employers must now consider requests for flexible working from those who care for adults.

The new regulations offer employers help in terms of planning staff cover. An employee intending to return early from maternity or adoption leave must now give her employer eight weeks’ notice of her intended return dates.

A further significant change is the introduction of a right for employers to maintain ‘reasonable contact’ with employees, who are on maternity leave.

Read more about the April 07 Maternity and Adoption regulation changes

Companies who produce electrical and electronic equipment are reminded by the Environment Agency to register in order to comply with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations.

Liz Parkes, Head of Waste at the Environment Agency, said: “From 1 July 2007, producers of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) will be responsible for paying for the treatment and recycling of products at the end of their life.
“Many producers will not have the facilities to do this themselves and so will join a compliance scheme. These schemes will help companies meet the requirements of the WEEE Regulations by collecting and recycling products on their behalf.

“We have now started to approve the compliance schemes that applied to us during January. Producers of EEE in England and Wales have until 15 March 2007 to join an approved scheme. We urge producers including manufacturers, rebranders and importers of EEE, to start exploring potential compliance schemes and join one as soon as possible in order to be ready for 1 July - ‘WEEE Day’.”

As part of the registration process, producers will need to pay a registration fee to the compliance scheme they would like to join and supply data on how much electrical and electronic equipment they placed on the market in 2006. They also need to say whether this equipment was for household or business use.

Each compliance scheme will then have until 31 March to register its members with the Environment Agency, which will issue each producer with a WEEE producer registration number. The producer will need to give this registration number to anyone who distributes or sells their products.

Liz Parkes continued: “As the main regulator for the WEEE regulations in England and Wales, we are working hard to meet the deadlines and to ensure producers fully understand their responsibilities. Used electrical and electronic goods form one of the fastest growing waste streams across the EU, expanding at three times the rate of general waste.

“With most of this type of waste being landfilled and very little being recycled, these regulations aim to minimise the end-of-life impacts of EEE on the environment and make sure it is dealt with in an environmentally responsible manner.”

For further information on approved compliance schemes and the WEEE regulations, visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/weee or contact the Environment Agency on 08708 506 506.