Section 21: Partial rejection of goods
122.This section clarifies the consumer’s rights around partial rejection of goods. If the consumer has the right to reject the goods because some or all of them do not conform to the contract then the consumer can reject some or all of them. If the consumer rejects only some of the goods they cannot reject any of the goods which do conform to the contract. That is, the consumer can:
reject all of the goods (conforming and non-conforming);
reject all of the non-conforming goods (but none of the conforming goods); or
reject some of the non-conforming goods (and keep some of the non-conforming goods and all of the conforming goods).
123.If the consumer has the right to reject an instalment of goods because some or all of them do not conform to the contract, then the consumer can reject some or all of the goods in the instalment. If the consumer rejects some of the goods they cannot reject any of the goods in the instalment which do conform to the contract.
124.If the contract is severable and the consumer has the right to reject goods supplied under one part of the contract because they do not conform to the contract, then the consumer can reject some or all of those goods. If the consumer chooses to reject only some of the goods they are entitled to reject, they cannot reject any of those goods which do conform to the contract.
125.In this section, conforming to the contract means conforming to any of the requirements of the contract. This includes conforming to all of the terms which the Act requires to be treated as included in a contract to supply goods, including under section 17. In this way, conforming to the contract has a wider meaning than in sections 19 and 22-24, which do not cover conformity to the terms required by section 17.
126.The provision is in effect consistent with section 35A of SGA, although section 35A provides that acceptance of some goods does not prevent rejection of others, whereas that concept of acceptance does not apply under the Act. This section therefore provides clarity that the consumer nonetheless has equivalent rights to reject in part.
127.Subsections (3) and (4) correspond to section 35(7) of the SGA and provide that where the goods form part of a “commercial unit” (defined in subsection (4)) the consumer may not reject some of the goods in that unit but keep others. For example, if furniture was sold as a three-piece-suite, but there was a fault with one of the chairs, the consumer would not be entitled to reject only the chair.