The Consumer Protection Act, 2008 (the CPA) came into force on 1 April 2011. It will have a significant effect on the supply of goods and services. The Act regulates the relationship between suppliers and consumers in detail.The Act applies to all transactions occurring within South Africa – this means that the Act will provide protection to a consumer where a product is purchased in South Africa, even if it is manufactured outside of South Africa.
The definition of a “consumer” includes not only the person (either a natural or juristic person) to whom goods or services are promoted or supplied, but also the actual user of the goods or the recipients or beneficiary of the services. In other words, a consumer may be a person other than the person who entered into an agreement with a supplier and paid for the goods or services.With regard to juristic persons, the Act will only provide protection to small businesses (in other words, where the consumer is a juristic person with an asset value or annual turnover below a threshold or R3m).
Read the following document to find out more. It briefly covers some important aspects of the act.