New Liabilities Under The Consumer Protection Act 1987 Yusuf Belgore Essay

New Liabilities Under The Consumer Protection Act 1987 Yusuf Belgore - Essay Example Before the enactment of the consumer protection act of 1987, those injured had to prove negligence of a manufacturer to sue successfully for any damage. The act now removes this bottleneck and a customer can already sue a supplier without proof of negligence, under sale of produce law. This law applies equal right to anyone injured by the defective product whether or not the good was sold to them . The major crux, of the consumer protection act, 1987, as we have seen so far is that it seeks to protect the consumer from unwholesome practice of producers. Part 1 of this act allows people injured by defective product to sue for compensation without having to prove that the producer was negligent. All that has to be proved is that the product was defective and the defect in the produce caused injury. The law applies to all consumer products and products used at place of work. This law makes taking litigation against producers of defective goods and in fact getting redress easy for the consumer. It also opens up lapses so that manufacturers of genuinely not defective goods get sued and may end up paying compensation. What this does is to allow for a larger influx of cases into the courts (over 1500 cases were in courts last year alone with 1000 successful prosecutions ). There are cases of adverse reaction to goods that are hitherto not defective for which an injured person may sue and in fact, get compensation for such cases. This is so because the act is very strict about liabilities. Thus the having contractual terms with the consumer does not exempt a producer from being sued.