Part 4

Consumer rights and disputes
Chapter 2

Subscription contracts

General interpretation

Interpretation
280
1
In this Chapter—
- “business” includes—
  1. a trade, craft or profession,
  2. any other undertaking carried on for gain or reward, and
  3. the activities of any government department or local or public authority;
- “consumer” means an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside the individual’s business;
- “durable medium” means paper, email or any other medium that—
  1. allows information to be addressed personally to the consumer,
  2. enables the consumer to store information in a way accessible for future reference for a period that is long enough for the purposes of the information, and
  3. allows the unchanged reproduction of information stored;
- “goods” includes—
  1. immoveable property;
  2. rights and obligations;
  3. water, gas and electricity if they are put up for sale in a limited volume or set quantity;
- “trader” means a person (“P”) acting for purposes relating to P’s business, whether acting personally or through another person acting in P’s name or on P’s behalf.
2
In this Chapter—
a
references to a contract for the supply of goods, services or digital content include references to a contract for the supply of any combination of goods, services and digital content;
b
references to payment or to a consumer being charged are references to payment, or a consumer being charged, in money or money’s worth;
c
references to something happening automatically under a subscription contract are references to it happening without any action on the part of the consumer to cause it to happen (ignoring the consumer’s action of entering into the contract or any action taken in connection with, or for the purpose of, entering into it);
d
references to something recurring are references to it happening more than once;
e
references to a supply of goods, services or digital content for a fixed term include references to a supply of goods, services or digital content which is fixed to any extent;
f
references to a consumer entering into a subscription contract include references to a consumer placing an order for the supply of goods, services or digital content under a subscription contract in circumstances where—
i
the trader is (in any way) inviting such orders, and
ii
the consumer is not required to take any further action for the contract to be concluded.
S. 280 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 339(1)