Huo Raymond: Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Huo Raymond: Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12575. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAYMOND HUO (Labour) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to speak in the first reading of the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill not only because the Consumer Guarantees Act used to be one of the areas of my legal practice prior to becoming an MP but also because I am taking a call on behalf of my learned colleague Clare Curran who is Labour’s very diligent and busy MP for Dunedin South. 
I should congratulate Dr Jackie Blue on this sensible bill. We support this bill as a fitting response to the genuine community concern about consumer protection. This bill extends the right of the consumer in an evolving market place. It is a common-sense bill that updates our legislation so that it better serves the consumer in the modern market place. Equally I should congratulate my colleague Carol Beaumont on her Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill more commonly known as the “Loan Sharks Bill”. Carol Beaumont’s bill protects the most vulnerable families by cracking down on loan sharks and I heartily encourage the Government to support it on the basis of principle not expediency. 
The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 sets out a number of warranties that consumers receive from suppliers manufacturers and importers of goods and from suppliers of services. It is not possible to contract out of these warranties unless the consumer of the goods or services is a business. The Act requires the supplier to guarantee that it has the right to sell the goods and the goods must be of an acceptable quality. The supplier may remedy a failure of any goods to comply with the guarantee by repairing the goods by curing the defect in title or by refunding the money paid where appropriate. 
That all sounds very good and the Act serves very well in the shall I say conventional market place. However consumers are not well served in the online market place; for instance they are not protected under the current Act when entering into competitive bidding online. Loopholes exist that bypass consumer rights and those loopholes need to be closed. This bill amends the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 to improve its operation in two areas: firstly extended warranties and secondly the supply of goods and services by suppliers through a competitive bidding process that uses an online trading facility. 
The bill seeks to assist consumers to make informed decisions about purchasing extended warranties. It will provide for a cooling-off period following the purchase of an extended warranty during which consumers can change their mind and cancel the purchase of an extended warranty and still receive a full refund. It will further extend the protections of the principal Act to goods and services supplied through a competitive bidding process using an online trading facility for example TradeMe. According to Clare Curran Labour’s spokesperson on communications and information technology today at around 12.30 p.m. over 55000 Kiwis were shopping on TradeMe. That is a big market place. Yet under the current Act consumers are not protected when entering into a competitive auction online. This loophole means unscrupulous sellers can often market faulty goods without fear of come-back. 
To conclude in supporting the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill Parliament is seeking to close some apparent loopholes for the benefit of consumers. I hope that intention will continue this evening in support for Carol Beaumont’s bill and that it will not be halted for mere political expediency at the expense of New Zealand consumers. Thank you.