Sale of Goods Ordinance

Consumer Protection

Bonnie has created a legal relationship with the shop after entering into a contract with them. This section will give Bonnie a general idea of the kind of rights and protection under a consumer contract.

Sale of Goods Ordinance

The Sale of Goods Ordinance (Cap. 26 of the Laws of Hong Kong) protects consumers who have paid money to the sellers in exchange for goods. But this Ordinance shall not apply to barter trade. (goods are sold in exchange for other goods)

Even when consumers are buying services rather than goods, they are also protected under the law. The Supply of Services (Implied Terms) Ordinance (Cap. 457 of the Laws of Hong Kong) protects consumers who have paid money or buy the service.

Consumer under the Sale of Goods Ordinance

The Sale of Goods Ordinance (“SGO”) provides that goods for sale must be as follow:

Merchantable quality

Make sure that certain goods of any description, the prices of goods and all other relevant circumstances, its quality must meet the generally satisfactory level. The quality of the goods includes appearance eventually quality, safety and durability. The goods must not be damaged (including minor damage), unless the seller in the transaction prior to inform buyers (section 16 of SGO).

Fitness for a particular purpose

For example, if you want to buy a CD player and the seller tell you that it include DVD playback functions, a CD player cannot play DVD. The seller must not sell to you (section 16 of SGO).

Sale by description

For example, seller told you that the shirt is 100% Cotton; they cannot sell mixed man-made ​​fibers (section 15 of SGO).

Sale by sample

If consumer buys the goods, seller show a samples of goods to look over after decide to purchase. The quality of goods must correspond with the sample. Also, the seller must give you the time of examination (section 17 of SGO).

If the sellers fail to meet any one of the above mentions, they are "in breach of contract". In this situation, consumers can reject the goods and require full refund (see: Acceptance or Rejection of Goods).

Under section 36 of the SGO, the buyer has the right to be given reasonable time to check the goods. In this situation, Bonnie can think about whether the shop gives her enough time to check the DVD player, assume there is no human factor to use the goods in normal operation. Bonnie can refer to section 16 to claim compensation with the Shop.

Definitions of Consumer in SGO

In accordance with section 2A of the Sale of Goods Ordinance, those who meet the following conditions are "consumer":

• you neither make the contract in the course of a business (a commercial transaction) nor hold yourself out as doing so;
• the other party does make the contract in the course of a business (a commercial transaction); and
• the goods passing under or in pursuance of the contract are of a type ordinarily supplied for private use or consumption.

That means if you are a businessman or company purchase of goods for personal use and not for commercial use (e.g. resell to another party to make a profit), you are "consumer" In this circumstances, situation (a) do not show that Bonnie use the player for commercial and resell to gain profit and situation (b) show that Bonnie buy the player for her own private use so Bonnie is consumer and can be protected by the Ordinance.

Definitions of Goods in the SGO

Section 2 (1) of the Sale of Goods Ordinance define the term of “goods” which includes all chattels personal other than things in action and money. The term includes emblements, industrial growing crops, and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale. Due to Bonnie buys the DVD player not in action and money, the Ordinance can apply in this circumstances.

Exclusion clause

If you were injured or cause damage to property from trader, the law will try to stop them escape their responsibility. Also, even if the contract contains wording cleverly or small print, they still have to pay compensation.

A) Unreasonable Exclusion Clauses

Exclusion Clauses enable a party not to be bear responsible when things go wrong. If the business intends to avoid consumer to claim, the terms must be reasonable; if term prove to be unreasonable, the Exclusion clause may be invalid.

A judge will consider that the parties make covenant whether they are aware, should it knows or is expected circumstances and determine that the exclusion clause is fair and reasonable so that the terms of the contract can meet reasonable standard(section 3(1) of the Control of Exemption Clauses Ordinance, Cap. 71 of the laws of Hong Kong).