Penalty Fair?
The Consumer has recently become the beneficiary of 2 important pieces of legislation; The Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homocide Act 2007 and The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, the first having entered into law in April this year and the second becoming law in May 2008.
The first is clearly designed to combat the activities of corporate entities, whose actions lead to the death of others. There is a debate as to whether such provisions will apply to overseas deaths, for example covering incidents like the sad death of 2 children in Corfu from Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
The second deals with a complete revamp of Consumer Protections, abolishing many current existing domestic laws, and applying a european standard on fair trading.
The advent of these provisions are welcomed, however when it comes to the question of penalties, the detail says it all!
If you are a member of management which is found to be responsible for someone’s death, then on indictment, your company will be subject to a heavy fine and a possible ‘rectification’ and publicity order! However, if you are an individual whose sharp practices entice a ‘typical consumer’ to trade with you, you had better watch out, because on indictment you can be sent to prison for up to 2 years!
So there you have it, society has once again sent a powerful message to corporate structures - death has been relegated to the level of the fixed penalty ticket!
Tags: consumer protection regulations, corporate manslaughter, cpr, holiday claims, ucpd
HTW has noted that amongst the submissions to the Committee on Toxicity (COT) it has been suggested that the symptoms highlighted by crew and passengers were akin to the condition of hyperventilation.
HTW has for many years received reports from concerned holiday makers or independent travellers as to the safety of their aircraft, ship or boat, train or road transport.
