The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000

Interpretation

3.—(1) In these Regulations—

“breach” means contravention by a supplier of a prohibition in, or failure to comply with a requirement of, these Regulations;

“business” includes a trade or profession;

“consumer” means any natural person who, in contracts to which these Regulations apply, is acting for purposes which are outside his business;

“court” in relation to England and Wales and Northern Ireland means a county court or the High Court, and in relation to Scotland means the Sheriff Court or the Court of Session;

“credit” includes a cash loan and any other form of financial accommodation, and for this purpose “cash” includes money in any form;

“Director” means the Director General of Fair Trading;

“distance contract” means any contract concerning goods or services concluded between a supplier and a consumer under an organised distance sales or service provision scheme run by the supplier who, for the purpose of the contract, makes exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to and including the moment at which the contract is concluded;

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17 March 1993(1);

“enactment” includes an enactment comprised in, or in an instrument made under, an Act of the Scottish Parliament;

“enforcement authority” means the Director, every weights and measures authority in Great Britain, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland;

“excepted contract” means a contract such as is mentioned in regulation 5(1);

“means of distance communication” means any means which, without the simultaneous physical presence of the supplier and the consumer, may be used for the conclusion of a contract between those parties; and an indicative list of such means is contained in Schedule 1;

“Member State” means a State which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;

“operator of a means of communication” means any public or private person whose business involves making one or more means of distance communication available to suppliers;

“period for performance” has the meaning given by regulation 19(2);

“personal credit agreement” has the meaning given by regulation 14(8);

“related credit agreement” has the meaning given by regulation 15(5);

“supplier” means any person who, in contracts to which these Regulations apply, is acting in his commercial or professional capacity; and

“working days” means all days other than Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

(2) In the application of these Regulations to Scotland, for references to an “injunction” or an “interim injunction” there shall be substituted references to an “interdict” or an “interim interdict” respectively.