Property Talk

 The aim of this Act is to minimise and resolve disputes between business entities and con¬sumers that have arisen due to prod¬uct defects, inferior quality and poor service. Most business entities have an advantage because of finance, knowledge and legal advisers. Therefore consumers normally face many difficulties in court.

To give both parties equal rights, this Act will apply the Procedural Consumer Act BE 2551 instead of the Procedural of Civil Law Act BE 2548 in cases where consumers file a com¬plaint against business entities. Secondly, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice has the right to issue additional regulations, with the consensus of the Supreme Court Meeting, on any point that is not men¬tioned in the Act. Lastly, if there is any issue that this Act does not mention and no regulation from the Supreme Court applies, the Procedure of Civil Law Act BE 2548 shall be applied as a "last resort".

Under the new articles in this law, some issues that need to be consid¬ered by developers are as follows;

Articles 10 and 11: There is no requirement for written documents in the execution. Any terms and con¬ditions the developer expresses to the consumer, written or oral, are con¬sider a "promise" to perform. The promise can be an advertisement, notice or written document.

Article 12: The philosophy of "Utmost Good Faith" shall be consid¬ered the first priority of all develop¬ers in this Act. The developer shall run his business using proper standards and be honest with the consumer. If any act or behaviour contravenes business standard, it shall be deemed an infringement of this law.

Article 13: In case of any damage to life, body or health of the con¬sumer with or without an obvious symptom, the validity period for this Act will be a threeyear count from the consumer's notice but shall not exceed 10 years from the damage or occurrence.

Article 40: The court reserves the right to correct any claims of expens¬es if the consumer can prove that there has been damage as a consequence of the developer's actions, despite its being noticed later. The court also reserves the right to correct its deci¬sion within 10 years of the date of the first decision.

Article 41: The consumer has the right to stake a claim due to a defec¬tive product by exchanging it for a new one or getting it fixed at the devel¬oper's expense.

Article 42: If the developer is proved guilty of running his business below standard, the court has the right to claim punitive damages for the con¬sumer.

Article 43: Even if the developer is not proved guilty but the product is considered hazardous to the con¬sumer, the court has the right to order the developer to recall all products from the market at the developer's expense. If the developer does not comply, the court can have him detained until the order has been sat¬isfactorily performed.