Government increases protection for timeshare consumers

Here are some key takeaways from the proposed Consumer Protection Act amendment.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced yesterday that it seeks feedback on the proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) (Cancellation of Contracts) Regulations (COC Regs). These amendments are aimed at tightening the law to give better protection for timeshare consumers.

Here's more:

The proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) (Cancellation of Contracts) Regulations, modelled after the UK and EU legislations, are intended to introduce the following:

• Expand definition of ‘Regulated contract’ to include ‘Long-term holiday product contracts’. This will close the current loophole where certain timeshare operators deliberately modify their business model to escape the requirements under the COC Regs, even though they are offering a substantially similar product to timeshare.

• No money to be collected during the cooling-off period for timeshare, timeshare-related and long-term holiday product contracts.
• Cooling-off period for long-term holiday product contracts to start after consumer receives technical means to access information on preferential travel rates (e.g. log-in passwords for online platforms). 

• Timeshare and holiday club sellers must provide Product Information Document (PID) to consumers before the contract is signed. This will make timeshare companies and holiday clubs more transparent about important features of their contracts, including the rights of the consumer, obligations of the seller, additional costs, and cancellation rights. 

MTI welcomes all feedback and views over the next five weeks (from 28 January to 1 March 2013). The public consultation paper and draft legislation can be accessed on MTI (www.mti.gov.sg) and REACH (www.reach.gov.sg) websites. All views and comments should reach MTI on or before 1 March 2013.