Consumer Protection Act 1999 · Updated to 1 Nov 2021 · Part II · Misleading and Deceptive Conduct, False Representation and Unfair Practice
17. Future services contract
Feedback & supportFor the purposes of this section, “future services contract”
services
“services” includes any rights, benefits, privileges or facilities that are or are to be provided, granted or conferred under any contract but does not include rights, benefits or privileges in the form of the supply of goods or the performance of work under a contract of service;
means a contract for consumer services that will be provided on a continuing basis and as prescribed by the Minister from time to time.
consumer
“consumer” means a person who— (a) acquires or uses goods or services of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household purpose, use or consumption; and (b) does not acquire or use the goods or services, or hold himself out as acquiring or using the goods or services, primarily for the purpose of— (i) resupplying them in trade; (ii) consuming them in the course of a manufacturing process; or (iii) in the case of goods, repairing or treating, in trade, other goods or fixtures on land;
A consumer who cancels a future services contract may be charged by the supplier the following amount:
supplier
“supplier” means a person who, in trade— (a) supplies goods to a consumer by transferring the ownership or the possession of the goods under a contract of sale, exchange, lease, hire or hire-purchase to which that person is a party; or (b) supplies services to a consumer, and includes— (i) where the rights of the supplier have been transferred by assignment or by operation of law, the person for the time being entitled to those rights; (ii) a financier who has lent money on the security of goods supplied to a consumer, if the whole or any part of the price of the goods is to be paid out of the proceeds of the loan and if the loan was arranged by a person who, in trade, supplied the goods; (iii) a person who, in trade, assigns or procures the assignment of goods to a financier to enable the financier to supply those goods, or goods of that kind, to the consumer; and (iv) a person who, in trade, is acting as agent for another person where that other person is not supplying in trade; *NOTE—This Act has replaced the Companies Act 1965 which came into operation on 31 January 2017–see subsection 620(1)…
five percent of the full contract price;
the cost of any goods the consumer used or is keeping;
or
30
the portion of the full contract price representing services received by the consumer.
Where the consumer has paid the supplier more money than the supplier is entitled to charge under paragraph (2)(a),
or (c), the supplier shall refund the extra payment or make a refund available, within fourteen days of cancellation.
A cancellation of a future services contract shall take effect—
at the time at which the cancellation is communicated to the supplier; or
where it is not reasonably practicable to communicate with the supplier, at the time at which the consumer indicates to the supplier, by means which are reasonable in the circumstances, his intention to cancel the future services contract.
Subject to subsection (6), a cancellation of the future services contract may be communicated by words or conduct or both which indicate the intention of the consumer to cancel the contract, and it shall not be necessary to use any particular form of words, as long as the intention to cancel is clear.
Where it is reasonably practicable to communicate with the supplier, subsection (5) shall take effect subject to any express provision in the future services contract requiring notice of cancellation to be in writing.