The Office of Fair Trading has attacked the Government’s proposed plans to reform the roles of various consumer protection bodies, in a response to a Government consultation. The OFT says the changes could create a disjointed approach that would threaten consumer trust and create additional burdens for business. The Government had been planning to introduce changes because of the way overlapping consumer protection services are provided by different bodies. The Government was looking to change the role of the Citizens Advice service, merge the OFT and Competition Commission into the Competition and Markets Authority, move some of the OFT’s functions to Trading Standards, and create a new Trading Standards Policy Board. The OFT has instead argued for a round approach from a central enforcer instead.
The OFT’s response to the consultation can be found here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/consultations/consumer-landscape/Consumer_Landscape.pdf.