The influence of the consumer protection act on promotional activities in South Africa

Abstract

For years, promotional activities in South Africa have been subject to regulation by various industry-specific regulatory bodies, such as inter alia, the Advertising Standards Authority, the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. In addition, various, legislative pieces including the Consumer Affairs (Harmful Business Practice) Act 71 of 1988, the Tobacco Products Control Act 83 of 1993, and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 have regulated important aspects pertaining to promotional activities. Following the promulgation of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (hereafter referred to as the CPA or the Act) all forms of promotional activities in South Africa are now regulated under this single piece of legislation, or are they? The potential problems that arise from the application of the provisions pertaining to promotional activities in the CPA are the threefold: namely, the possible redundancy of these pre-existing regulatory bodies; the over-regulation of promotional activities in South Africa; and the interplay between the provisions of the CPA, as well as the legislation and Codes pertaining to promotional activities, that have not been repealed by the Act. The investigation into these three major concerns will be conducted with reference to the regulation of promotional activities in terms of other South African statutes and existing Codes. In addition a comparative analysis with the regulation of promotional activities in the United Kingdom will be carried out.