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I would have thought that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 in New Zealand would only apply to businesses - but reading the document I could not see anything that would exclude government entities from being bound by the act.

The act talks about a supplier, and defines a supplier to mean "

means a person who, in trade,— (i)

supplies goods to a consumer by— (A)

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)

transferring the ownership of the goods as the result of a gift from that person; or (C)

transferring the ownership or possession of the goods as directed by an insurer; or (ii)

supplies services to an individual consumer or a group of consumers (whether or not the consumer is a party, or the consumers are parties, to a contract with the person); and (b)

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 creditor within the meaning of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 who has lent money on the security of goods supplied to a consumer, if the whole or 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 creditor within the meaning of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 to enable the creditor to supply those goods, or goods of that kind, to the consumer: (iv)

a person (other than an auctioneer) who, in trade, is acting as an agent for another, whether or not that other is supplying in trade

So, if I purchase goods (eg a Passport or Birth Certificate from Internal Affairs or Water from the local council) am I covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act if they loose the document / don't supply water that is up to standard?

I feel sure the government must have carved a loophole out for themselves, and I've never heard of anyone using the CGA against the government, so I must be missing something. Maybe people can use the CGA but courts lack jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter?

Also relevant -

Section 3 of the act says "This Act binds the Crown".

davidgo
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1 Answers1

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No

There can be circumstances where the government is “in trade”, but usually as the customer rather than the supplier.

Notwithstanding, when the government provides you with government services, like a passport or a birth certificate, this is not “in trade” because the government is acting as a government, not a business. Even if they charge a fee for this, there is no contractual relationship.

Now, the supply of water might be different.

Dale M
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