Consumer Affairs Victoria消费者事务的维多利亚.docVIP

NSW FAIR TRADING Public Warnings as a Compliance and Enforcement Tool Document Control: Status: Approved TRIM File no.: 11/036691 Document version: Dec 2011 – v1.0 Date last edited: 27 January 2012 Last edited by: R Corbo ? State of New South Wales through NSW Fair Trading, 2012 Contents Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2 1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 1.1 Public Warning Statements …………………………………………………………………… 5 1.2 Public Warning Notices ………………………………………………………………………… 6 1.3 About this Document …………………………………………………………………………… 6 2. Why Make Public Warnings? ………………………………………………………………………. 7 2.1 The Benefits of Public Warnings ……………………………………………………………. 8 2.2 The Risks to Other Compliance Actions ……..…………………………………………… 11 2.3 Balancing Benefits and Risks ...……………………………………………………………… 12 3. Should a Public Warning be made? ………………………………………………… 13 3.1 Framework for Public Warning Decisions ……………..…………………………………. 13 3.2 Legislative Provisions for Making or Issuing a Public Warning ……………..……. 14 4. What Public Warning should be made? ………………………………………………………… 16 4.1 Making the Right Public Warning ..…………………………………………………………. 16 4.2 Giving Notice to Persons Identified in Public Warnings……………………………… 22 4.3 Timing ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 23 5. Procedure for Making or Issuing Public Warnings…..……………………………………… 24 5.1 Publishing Public Warnings …………………………….…………………………………….. 26 6. Appendix A – Case Studies Index ……………………………………………………………….. 27 A.1 Itinerant Trader ...………………………………………………………………………………. 28 A.2 A Difficult Legal Process ………………………………………………………………………. 32 A.3 Making Public warnings in the Context of Ongoing Legal Actions …………….. 35 A.4 The Reluctant Trader ………………………………………………………………………….. 39 SUMMARY Public warnings are a useful compliance tool for NSW Fair Trading (NSW FT) in improving trader compliance and reducing consumer detriment in New South Wales. Under the Fair Trading Act 1987 1, the provision