The Consumer Credit (Advertisements) Regulations 2004
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2004/1484 |
| Year | 2004 |
2004 No.1484
CONSUMER CREDIT
The Consumer Credit (Advertisements) Regulations 2004
Made 5th June 2004
Laid before Parliament 9th June 2004
Coming into force 31th October 2004
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon her by sections 44, 151(1), 182(2) and 189(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 19741, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation, commencement and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Consumer Credit (Advertisements) Regulations 2004, and shall come into force on 31st October 2004.
(2) In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Consumer Credit Act 1974;
“advance payment” does not include a repayment of credit or any insurance premium or any amount entering into the total charge for credit;
“APR” means the annual percentage rate of charge for credit determined in accordance with the Total Charge for Credit Regulations and Schedule 1 to these Regulations;
“authorised deposit taker” means—
(a) a person who has permission under Part 4 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 20002to accept deposits, or
(b) an EEA firm of the kind mentioned in paragraph 5(b) of Schedule 3 to that Act which has permission under paragraph 15 of that Schedule (as a result of qualifying for authorisation under paragraph 12(1)) to accept deposits,
but sub-paragraph (a) does not include a person who is a credit union within the meaning of the Credit Unions Act 19793or the Credit Unions (Northern Ireland) Order 19854, or a specially authorised friendly society within the meaning of section 7(1)(f) of the Friendly Societies Act 19745;
“cash price” in relation to any goods, services, land or other things means the price or charge at which the goods, services, land or other things may be purchased by, or supplied to, persons for cash, account being taken of any discount generally available from the dealer or supplier in question;
“cash purchaser” means, in relation to any advertisement, a person who, for a money consideration—
(a) acquires goods, land or other things, or
(b) is provided with services,
under a transaction which is not financed by credit;
“credit advertisement” means an advertisement to which Part 4 of the Act applies by virtue of it falling within section 43(1)(a), or which falls within section 151(1) of the Act in so far as section 44 is applied to such an advertisement;
“current account” means an account under which the customer may, by means of cheques or similar orders payable to himself or to any other person or by any other means, obtain or have the use of money held or made available by the person with whom the account is kept and which records alterations in the financial relationship between the said person and the customer;
“dealer” means, in relation to a hire-purchase, credit sale or conditional sale agreement under which he is not the creditor, a person who sells or proposes to sell goods, land or other things to the creditor before they form the subject matter of any such agreement and, in relation to any other agreement, means a supplier or his agent;
“hire advertisement” means an advertisement to which Part 4 of the Act applies by virtue of it falling within section 43(1)(b), or which falls within section 151(1) of the Act in so far as section 44 is applied to such an advertisement;
“hire payment” means any payment to be made by a person in relation to any period in consideration of the bailment to him of goods, other than an advance payment;
“identified dealer” means, in relation to an advertisement—
(a) a dealer who is named in the advertisement or is identified in it by reference to a business connection he has with the advertiser, or
(b) a dealer upon whose premises the advertisement is published;
“premises” includes any place, stall, vehicle, aircraft or hovercraft at which a person is carrying on any business (whether on a permanent or temporary basis);
“relevant date”, in relation to an advertisement relating to credit to be provided under a consumer credit agreement, means—
(a) in a case where a date is specified in or determinable under the agreement at the date of its making as that on which the debtor is entitled to require provision of anything the subject of the agreement, the earliest such date, and
(b) in any other case, the date of the making of the agreement;
“supplier” has the meaning assigned to it by section 189(1) of the Act, except that it does not include, in relation to a hire-purchase, credit sale or conditional sale agreement, a creditor to whom goods, land or other things are sold or proposed to be sold by a dealer before becoming the subject matter of such an agreement;
“the total charge for credit” means the total charge for credit determined in accordance with the Total Charge for Credit Regulations and Schedule 1 to these Regulations;
“the Total Charge for Credit Regulations” means the Consumer Credit (Total Charge for Credit) Regulations 19806, and
“the typical APR” is an APR at or below which an advertiser reasonably expects, at the date on which an advertisement is published, that credit would be provided under at least 66% of the agreements he will enter into as a result of the advertisement.
(3) The definition of “authorised deposit taker” in paragraph (2) must be read with—
(a)
(a) section 22 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;
(b)
(b) any relevant order under that section; and
(c)
(c) Schedule 2 to that Act.
(4) In these Regulations as they apply to Scotland—
(a)
(a) any reference to bailment is a reference to hiring;
(b)
(b) any reference to a mortgage or charge on land, or any other security on land, is a reference to a standard security over land within the meaning of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 19707.
(5) In these Regulations, references to repayment of credit are references to repayment of credit with or without any other amount.
(6) In these Regulations, any reference to the name of any person is—
(a)
(a) in the case of any person covered by a standard licence, a reference to any name of his specified in the licence; and
(b)
(b) in the case of any other person, a reference to any name under which he carries on business.
(7) Where any expression is used in these Regulations and in the Act, for the purposes of these Regulations that expression shall be construed as if, in the Act (except section 8), references to consumer credit agreements and to regulated agreements (being consumer credit agreements) included references to personal credit agreements.
Duty to comply
2. A person who causes a credit advertisement or a hire advertisement to be published shall ensure that the advertisement complies with all applicable requirements of these Regulations.
General requirements
3. Every credit advertisement or hire advertisement shall—
(a) use plain and intelligible language;
(b) be easily legible (or, in the case of any information given orally, clearly audible), and
(c) specify the name of the advertiser.
Content of advertisements
4.—(1) Where a credit advertisement includes any of the amounts referred to in paragraphs 5 to 7 of Schedule 2 to these Regulations, and where a hire advertisement includes any of the amounts referred to in paragraph 4 or 5 of Schedule 3 to these Regulations, the advertisement shall also—
(a)
(a) include all the other items of information (other than any item inapplicable to the particular case) listed in the relevant Schedule, and
(b)
(b) specify a postal address at which the advertiser may be contacted, except—
(i) in the case of advertisements published by means of television or radio broadcast;
(ii) in the case of advertisements in any form on the premises of a dealer or creditor (not being advertisements in writing which customers are intended to take away);
(iii) in the case of advertisements which include the name and address of a dealer, and
(iv) in the case of advertisements which include the name and a postal address of a credit-broker.
(2) The items of information listed in Schedule 2 in the case of a credit advertisement, and the items of information listed in Schedule 3 in the case of a hire advertisement, shall be given equal prominence and shall be shown together as a whole.
(3) Any information in any book, catalogue, leaflet or other document which is likely to vary from time to time shall be taken for the purpose of paragraph (2) to be shown together as a whole if—
(a)
(a) it is set out together as a whole in a separate document issued with the book, catalogue, leaflet or other document;
(b)
(b) the other information in the credit advertisement or hire advertisement, as the case may be, is shown together as a whole in the book, catalogue, leaflet or other document, and
(c)
(c) the book, catalogue, leaflet or other document identifies the separate document in which the information likely to vary is set out.
Credit advertisements in dealers' publications covering a calendar or seasonal period
5.—(1) Regulation 4 shall not apply to a credit advertisement contained in, or in a separate document issued with, a publication published by or on behalf of a dealer which relates to goods or services which may be sold or supplied by him in a calendar or seasonal period specified in the publication if the advertisement contains the information specified in paragraph (2) and no other indication that a person is willing to provide credit.
(2) The information referred to in paragraph (1) is—
(a)
(a) the name of the creditor, credit-broker or dealer and a postal address of his with or without his occupation or a statement of the general nature of his occupation, and
(b)
(b) an indication that individuals may obtain on request details of the terms on which the advertiser is prepared to do business.
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