Consumer Protection Act 2007

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Undertakings with the Agency.

73.— (1) In this section “ prohibited act or practice ” does not include a contravention of section 59 (2) (respecting weighing facilities in grocery retail) or section 60 (1) (respecting preventing the reading of prices).

(2) If the Agency has reason to believe that a trader—

(a) is committing or engaging in a prohibited act or practice,

(b) is about to commit or engage in a prohibited act or practice, or

(c) has committed or engaged in a prohibited act or practice,

the Agency may accept from the trader a written undertaking that is signed by the trader in the form and which contains the terms and conditions the Agency determines are appropriate in the circumstances.

(3) If the Agency accepts an undertaking from a trader under this section, the Agency shall publish the undertaking, or cause it to be published, in any form or manner the Agency considers appropriate.

(4) Without limiting subsection (2), the undertaking may include one or more of the following terms and conditions:

(a) an undertaking to comply with the provision or provisions concerned of this Act or regulations under this Act;

(b) an undertaking to refrain from committing or engaging in any act or practice;

(c) an undertaking to compensate consumers or a class of consumers, including reimbursing any money or returning any other property or thing received from consumers in connection with a consumer transaction;

(d) an undertaking to publish or cause to be published, at the trader’s expense, an advertisement containing a corrective statement relating to the prohibited act or practice.

(5) If the trader under subsection (2) is a body corporate, the undertaking shall be signed by a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the trader.

(6) The Agency may terminate proceeding against a trader under section 71 (respecting civil relief by way of prohibition orders) on the acceptance of an undertaking from the trader.

(7) Despite subsection (6), the Agency may apply for an order against a trader under section 71 if the trader fails to comply with the terms and conditions of an undertaking under this section.

(8) Subsections (2) to (5) shall, with the following modifications and any other necessary modifications, apply in respect of any trader the Agency has reason to believe is contravening, is about to contravene or has contravened an enactment specified in Schedule 4 , namely, the modifications that—

(a) references in those subsections to a prohibited act or practice shall be read as references to a contravention of an enactment specified in that Schedule, and

(b) the reference in subsection (4)(a) to the provision or provisions concerned of this Act or regulations under this Act shall be read as a reference to the provision or provisions concerned of that enactment.

(9) If compensation is paid to a consumer pursuant to an undertaking referred to in subsection (4)(c) and the consumer subsequently commences an action under section 74 and is awarded damages by the court in respect of the same prohibited act or practice, the compensation paid under the undertaking is deemed to be in satisfaction of so much of the awarded damages as is equal to the amount paid to the consumer under that undertaking.