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Aggressive commercial practices.
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53.— (1) A commercial practice is aggressive if by harassment, coercion or undue influence it would be likely to—
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(a) cause significant impairment of the average consumer’s freedom of choice or conduct in relation to the product concerned, and
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(b) cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make.
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(2) In determining whether a commercial practice is aggressive under subsection (1), the commercial practice shall be considered in its factual context, taking account of all of its features and the circumstances.
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(3) Without limiting subsection (2), in determining whether the commercial practice employs harassment, coercion or undue influence, the following shall be taken into account:
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(a) the timing, location, nature or persistence of the commercial practice;
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(b) the use of threatening or abusive language or behaviour by the trader;
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(c) the exploitation of a consumer’s misfortune or circumstance when the trader is aware that the consumer’s judgment is impaired as a result of the gravity of the misfortune or circumstance, in order to influence the consumer’s transactional decision;
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(d) the imposition of onerous or disproportionate non-contractual barriers by the trader when the consumer wishes to terminate the contract, exercise a contractual right or switch to another product or trader;
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(e) the use of threats by the trader to—
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(i) take action or initiate proceedings against the consumer when the trader has no legal basis for taking such action or initiating such proceedings, or
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(ii) do something unlawful.
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(4) In this section, “ undue influence ” means exploiting a position of power in relation to a consumer so as to apply pressure (without necessarily using or threatening to use physical force) in a way that significantly limits the consumer’s ability to make an informed choice in relation to the trader’s product.
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