The consultation period for the ‘Consumer Protection & Guarantees Consultative Draft Bill’ has been extended to May 1, 2018 by the Law Reform Commission after a request made by the Chamber of Commerce was accepted.

The consultative bill was drafted in 2017 and is intended to inform consumers of their rights when conducting business with merchants. The consultation period for comment was originally scheduled to conclude at the end of January, but was extended due to a lack of comment from the business community.

The bill was the focus of the first BE INFORMED session of 2018 at the Chamber of Commerce, with representatives from HSM explaining the key components of the bill to a conference room full of local business members.

“Draft legislation of this nature is going to have a significant effect on local businesses, so we knew it was vital to not only hold a BE INFORMED session to ensure that our members knew the ins-and-outs of this bill, but for the Chamber to take an active role as facilitator and advocate for the business community,” said President Paul Byles.

“The meeting with our members made it clear that there are quite a few legitimate concerns,” he added.
Attorneys from HSM, Peter De Vere (Head of Corporate & Commercial) and Tonicia Williams (Associate) spent the two-and-a-half-hour session delivering a presentation explaining the sections of the bill and fielding questions from dozens of members from across all industry sectors.

“We are grateful that the Law Reform Commission has extended the deadline for consultation, as this allows our members and the wider business community to thoroughly examine the proposed bill and submit useful, comprehensive feedback,” said President Byles.

“We will consolidate the views of our members and communicate our concerns to both the Law Reform Commission as well as legislators and are seeking comments from our members by 31st March,” he added.

The Chamber of Commerce strongly recommends all businesses to read the drafted consultative draft of the Consumer Protections Bill, and subsequently submit any concerns or feedback to [email protected]. All comments will be compiled into a report and then another BE INFORMED presentation will be held to review the comments before preparing a final report to be presented to the Law Reform Commission with constructive amendments that will be accepted with the business community.

To access the consultative draft bill in its entirety go to: http://www.lawreformcommission.gov.ky/portal/page/portal/lrchome

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Peter De Vere (Head of Corporate & Commercial) explains key passages of the ‘Consumer Protection & Guarantees Consultative Draft Bill’ to Chamber members.