The Provision of Services Regulations came into force on 28th December 2009 and applies to the majority of businesses that provide services in the UK. If you are a service provider within the scope of these Regulations you are required to make certain information available and to make sure customers have access to a complaints procedure.
Do the Regulations affect my business ?
These regulations apply to both business-to-business and business-to-consumer services. Below are some examples of the types of services that the Regulations will apply to but these are NOT an exhaustive list. If you require more information please see the contact details at the end of this article.
- Business Services: management consultancy; professional services such as architects, surveyors, and lawyers; advertising; fitting & maintenance of equipment; renting of equipment; training providers and the services of commercial agents
- Services provided to both business and to consumers: estate agents; letting agents; conveyancing; restaurants; catering services; storage services; security services; removal services; financial advisers; insurance brokers and intermediaries
- Consumer Services: tourism, including tour operators and tour guides; travel agents; child minders; leisure services; sports centres; gardeners; cleaners; plumbers; joiners; and electricians
Certain service providers are not covered by the Regulations and these include:
- Financial service providers, such as banking, credit, insurance and re-insurance, occupational & personal pensions, payment & investment advice
- Private security services; audiovisual services; services provided by notaries or bailiffs
- Healthcare services, whether or not they are provided via healthcare facilities, and regardless of the ways in which they are organised and financed at national level, or whether they are public or private
What do the Regulations require?
If the services you provide are within the scope of the Regulations the following MUST be available for recipients:
- Name
- Legal Status (for example, sole trader or limited company
- Address of where the business is established, i.e. your registered office for a Limited Company or Limited Liability Partnership
- Contact details for direct communication (for example your e-mail address)
- Contact details for making complaints and for information requests; these should include a postal, fax or e-mail address, telephone number and registered office (if different from your postal address)
- Price of services, if pre-determined
- Main features of service, if it is not obvious from the context
- VAT number, if registered for VAT
- If applicable, your trade registration scheme and your registration number
- If appliciable, UK authorisation scheme details and the relevant regulatory body or single point of contact
- General terms and conditions, if any
- If applicable, your professional body's name, your professional title and the country in which the title was granted
- Contract terms on law and jurisdiction applicable to your service contracts, if any
- Any after-sales guarantee which provides more protection than that required by law
- If you are required to hold professional liability insurance, details about this, the geographical coverage and your insurer's contact details
If the customer requests the following information you must provide the following;
- If you are subject to a code of conduct, trade association, or professional body that has non-judicial dispute resolution procedures, details of this and how to access information about it.
- If the price is NOT pre-determined, the price of the service, or if an exact price cannot be given, the method for calculating the price
- Information about any other activities the service provider carries out which are directly linked to the service in question
All the information must be given in a clear and unambiguous manner so that it can be easily understood. This information must also be given in good time before the contract is concluded or before the service is provided when there is no written contract.
How do you supply this information?
Information can be made available in any of the following ways:
- Supply it directly to the recipient
- Make it easily accessible to the recipient at the place where the service is provided or the contract concluded, for example at your premises
- Make it easily accessible by the recipient electronically by means of an address you supply, for example, by providing the exact address of where the information can be found on a publicly available website
- Include it in any information documents that you supply to the recipient, which set out a detailed description of the service you provide
Discrimination
The regulations stipulate that you must not discriminate on the grounds of nationality or place of residence in the general conditions you make available to the public at large. So, for example, you cannot give a client in one area different terms of business from a client in another unless there are 'objective criteria' for doing so that justify this difference. If you require guidance on 'objective criteria' please see contact details below.
What happens if your business does not comply with the Regulations?
In the case of business to business transactions the recipient can seek redress on its own initiative. The Office of Fair Trading and various other consumer bodies are also able to take action against businesses in breach of the Regulations where the breach harms the collective interests of consumers.
For more information about the potential implications of this legislation for yuor business, please contact Philip Lewis Ogden, Partner, Company Commercial Department, or call him on 01904 698617.
Harrowells LLP legal commentaries serve only to outline issues you may need to consider in relation to particular aspects of the law. They should not be used or relied upon in place of specific advice tailored to your situation.
