It means that the Trading Standards Service is unable to take enforcement action against traders who treat consumers unfairly.
The creation of legislation was backed by the States in February 2016 – with senior ministers saying at the time that its absence “reflected badly” on the island – however it has been condemned as a ‘low priority’ item in the Law Officers’ legislative drafting backlog ever since.
Pictured: Responses on the draft ordinance were finally returned in December having been delayed, among other things, by Brexit legislation. The drafting of the legislation is still ongoing.
“It has been approved by the States, but the implementation hasn’t happened,” said Citizens Advice Deputy CEO Ali Marquis.
“It is still an ongoing problem for our clients. There is very little protection for people in the island and the legislation does need to be enforced.”
The legislation is considered of such importance by the community-facing charity that it featured as one of four big-ticket items in its Citizens Manifesto, which was distributed to all 2020 election candidates.
“The number of consumer rights issues more than doubled between 2017 and 2019 – an increase of 57%,” the document stated. “The greatest number of issues reported, related to building work and home improvements, followed by telephone and internet issues.”
Pictured: Citizens Advice dealt with 117 complaints from consumers in 2020.
Another concern is that the consumer landscape is ever-changing – with online purchases becoming more common.
“People are buying things in different ways now to four/five years ago,” said Mrs Marquis.
“They may need to look again at what they approved in 2016.”
Pictured: Citizens Advice published a Citizens Manifesto for election candidates last year. Left is CEO Kerry Ciotti and right is Deputy CEO Ali Marquis.