Consumer Affairs (Unfair Business Practices) Act, 1988 (Act No. 71 of 1988)

1. Definitions

Purchase

In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates--

"arrangement"

means, except in paragraph (a) of the definition of 'business practice', an arrangement or undertaking negotiated by the committee;

"benefit"

means any prize, reward, gift, service, concession, free admittance or admittance at a reduced charge to a place of entertainment, free insurance or insurance at a reduced rate, or any other benefit or advantage of any kind whatsoever;

"business"

means any business, undertaking or person who--

a)	offers, supplies or makes available any commodity;

b)	solicits or receives any investment or to whom any investment is supplied or made available;

"business practice''

includes--

a)	any agreement, accord, arrangement, understanding or undertaking, whether legally enforceable or not, between two or more persons;

b)	any scheme, practice or method of trading, including any method of marketing or distribution;

c)	any advertising, type of advertising or any other manner of soliciting business;

d)	any act or omission on the part of any person, whether acting independently or in concert with any other person;

e)	any situation arising out of the activities of any person or class or group of persons,

but does not include a practice regulated by competition law;

"chairperson"

means the chairperson referred to in section 2(2);

"committee"

means the Consumer Affairs Committee established by section 2;

"commodity"

means any property, whether corporeal or incorporeal and whether movable or immovable, and also any make or brand of any commodity and any service, whether personal, professional or otherwise, including any storage, transportation, insurance or banking service, but does not include service in terms of a contract of employment;

"competent authority"

means a competent authority responsible for business practices or consumer protection in the provincial sphere of government in terms of provincial legislation;

"consumer"

means--

a)	any natural person to whom any commodity is offered, supplied or made available;

b)	any natural person from whom any investment is solicited or who supplies or makes available any investment;

c)	any other person who the Minister with the concurrence of the committee declares to be a consumer by notice in the Gazette;

d)	any person who is a consumer for the purposes of this Act in terms of any other law;

"investigating officer"

means an investigating officer appointed under section 7(1);

"investment"

means any money, property or any other facility intended for utilisation in connection with any venture or scheme for the acquisition of gain or purported to be so intended;

"magistrate"

means the Magistrate: Pretoria or the magistrate of the district where the investigation is to be carried out;

"Minister"

means the Minister of Trade and Industry;

"regulation"

means a regulation made under section 16;

"special court"

means a court established under section 13(2);

"this Act"

includes any notice published or given thereunder and any regulation;

"trade coupon"

means anything whatsoever which, either by itself or in connection with any other thing or any act, entitles or purports to entitle the holder thereof to receive, or to participate in a competition for, any benefit;

"unfair business practice"

means any business practice which, directly or indirectly, has or is likely to have the effect of--

a)	harming the relations between businesses and consumers;

b)	unreasonably prejudicing any consumer;

c)	deceiving any consumer; or

d)	unfairly affecting any consumer.