OFT Annual Report 1998 published Need to tackle rogue traders says John Bridgeman Almost 900,000 complaints about goods and services were made to trading standards departments in the year to Sept 1998. Unfair terms in consumer contracts were the subject of 1158 complaints compared with 1042 in 1997.
Action is needed to deal with rogue traders and raise the standards of business in general.
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry's recent statement that his consumer strategy White Paper will set out how the Government will tackle rogue traders is welcomed. What is required, in addition, is for business to take more care and more responsibility for consumer protection and offer consumers more than the simple minimum required by law. In order to work effectively they must benefit better traders across all market sectors. Disreputable traders must be marginalised. Competition The Office continued to prepare for the major changes to competition law that the prohibitions in the Competition Act 1998 will bring in from 1 March 2000.