§ Mr. RookerTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will amend the regulations relating to pyramid selling to encompass all companies involved in transactions away from business premises.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe Pyramid Selling Schemes Regulations are irrelevant to many transactions carried out away from business premises, including sales by a company where the sales force consists of its employees.
§ Mr. RookerTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will amend the regulations regarding pyramid selling to provide an unlimited right for participants to return goods for a full refund regardless of condition within 90 days from commencement of their business.
§ Mr. McLoughlinNo. Such a right would impose unwarranted compliance costs on trading which is subject to the regulations. This would put this method of trading at an unjustified competitive disadvantage.
§ Mr. RookerTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will bring forward legislation to outlaw any business scheme of pyramid selling requiring payments purely for the benefit of registration where there is no supply of goods and services to consumers outside the scheme;
(2) if he will bring forward proposals to enable trading standards officers to be responsible for enforcement of regulations regarding pyramid selling.
§ Mr. McLoughlinI have, at present, no plans to amend the Fair Trading Act 1973 in this way.
§ Mr. RookerTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received about the limit of purchases by those involved in pyramid selling within the first seven days of business.
§ Mr. McLoughlinAlthough this was not raised by anyone in response to our deregulation consultation over this legislation, I have since received one such representation. In addition, I have had many representations on behalf of one company that considers this limit to be ineffective in providing protection to participants.