OPINION TCA PC Keith Warburton is the president of
The Technology Channels Association. CONTACT
keith.warburton@tcauk.org The North-South divide
Keith Warburton discusses the complexities of British law and how a trade organisation can help navigate the legal minefield laid down by ‘officious officials’...
IT IS OFTEN said that there’s one law for the rich and one for the poor – a claim we are sure to see more of over the coming months. But how many people know that there is officially one set of laws for the South and another for the North? Or to be more specific, the Scots have a different set of laws – and indeed a different legal system – to the English. Most Scots are, of course, aware of this. I was reminded of these differences on a recent visit to a TCA member north of
“Scottish resellers are being pushed in to registering with their local authorities if they are suspected of dealing in second hand products.”
the border. This reseller was being harassed by his local authority, which was insisting that he register as a seller of second-hand products. Registration would cost him several hundred pounds. As far as anyone can tell it would bring him no benefit, other than regular visits from the local trading standards department and the police, on the lookout for stolen items. This particular element of Scottish law was passed a couple of years ago in an attempt to tackle the number of stolen products being reset or ‘fenced’, as followers of crime drama know it. This law does not exist in England and therefore does not trouble English resellers, local authorities or the police, and it would need someone far braver than me to infer this is some sort of indication that the Scots – fine upstanding people that they are – are of an inherently more criminal bent than the English. Far from it, I hasten to say. But it does underline that in a parliamentary democracy we get the laws we deserve: If we don’t like them, then change them – both the MPs and the laws they have passed in our name. However the problem remains –
Scottish resellers are being pushed into registering with their local authorities if they are suspected of dealing in second- hand products. In vain this particular reseller insisted that all the branded kit on his shop’s shelves was manufacturers’
refurbished items, as the officious officials had their mindset in place and weren’t in listening mode. The reseller then called in the TCA
and we drafted some letters, pointing out that these items had not been bought from the public, they had been bought from well-documented trade suppliers; they might well be simply repacked items, or over-stock clearance products that had never previously been near a consumer. We also pointed out that even if the items concerned had perhaps been in the previous possession of a consumer, they might have been returned to the original reseller and then to the manufacturer under the terms of the Distance Selling and Consumer Guarantees Directives, whereby one of the remedies open to a consumer who changes their mind or claims a fault with a product is ‘rescission’ (it’s a Euro-word) meaning to rescind the sales contract so that it is taken never to have existed. And if the contract has never existed, then the consumer couldn’t have owned the product, and if it wasn’t pre-owned it couldn’t be second hand, could it? After a few weeks digesting this logic and running it past their legal advisors, the local authority backed down. As our member said when thanking us: “Never mind all the other benefits, this has paid for my TCA membership for many years into the future.”
MAC
108 PCR November
www.pcr–
online.biz
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