Business Advice for: Dog Breeders
Providing information to consumers
Companies Act 2006
The Companies Act 2006, lays down what and how information about your business
should be disclosed to consumers.
Limited companies
If your business is a limited company, the following information must be included on all
invoices, contracts, letter headed paperwork and websites:
• Limited Company Name;
• Address of Registered Office;
• Company Number;
• The place of Company Registration, i.e. England and Wales;
• Contact telephone number;
• E-mail address;
• Registered VAT number (if applicable);
• Clear prices (on website).
Sole traders and partnerships
Where a sole trader or partnership carries on a business under a name that is not that of
the proprietor or partners their details must be fully disclosed to consumers and suppliers
in order to make it clear who they are doing business with.
The information that is required to be disclosed is:
• The full name of the proprietor or all of the partners, and
• An address at which the business can be contacted and have legal documents
formally served on it
The required information must be:
• Displayed in a prominent position in all business premises where customers and
suppliers have access;
• Given immediately in writing to any customer or supplier who requests business
details information;
• Included legibly on all business documents: letters; written orders for goods or services; invoices, receipts and contracts; written demands for payment; business websites (a requirement under the Electronic Commerce (EC
Directive) Regulations 2002).
Selling dogs away from your business premises
Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and
Additional Charges) Regulations 2013
Off premises contracts
If you agree a contract in a consumer’s home or away from your business premises you
must provide a cancellation notice. It is a criminal offence not to supply a cancellation
notice in this situation.
A cancellation notice period is 14 days and can be provided either by e-mail or paper copy.
The 14 days begin the day after the day on which the dog comes into the physical
possession of the consumer.
It is important to note that if you do not provide the cancellation notice when agreeing a
contract in a consumer’s home, as well as it being a criminal offence, the contract could be
unenforceable; meaning the consumer may not have to pay.
Distance contracts
You must also provide a 14 day cancellation notice if you negotiate and agree a contract
(sale) with a consumer via an “organised” means of distance communication, e.g. by phone,
post or online. This provision may apply when you take a deposit via the telephone or
e-mail for a puppy advertised on your web site, even if the balance is paid face-to-face.
However, the contract must involve an organised scheme for selling dogs. A “one off” sale
of a puppy via the telephone does not constitute an organised scheme for selling dogs.
The cancellation notice
Where a cancellation notice is required, it must be provided in the prescribed format, and
you may want to provide a model cancellation form. However, the customer is
not obliged to use the cancellation form you provide, but must cancel in writing, either by
posting, hand delivering or emailing their intention to cancel.
Your obligations to the consumer (contractual)
The Consumer Rights Act 2015
Consumers are entitled, by law, to expect that dogs they buy from you conform to the
contract. This means that the dogs you sell should be:
• of satisfactory quality, i.e. generally healthy;
• fit for their intended purpose (and any purpose you told a customer they were
suitable for, e.g. breeding, showing);
• as described, e.g. Cocker Spaniel, Kennel Club Registered, “raised in family home”.
Are consumers entitled to a refund, repair or replacement?
Yes, if the dogs do not conform to the contract, then consumers have the legal right to one
of the following 'remedies':
• a full or part refund;
• a replacement or repair e.g. new puppy, vet fees, etc.;
• a price reduction;
• compensation for losses incurred, e.g. vet fees.
The remedy that you are required to give depends on the circumstances of each sale e.g.,
how long the consumer has owned the dog prior to the problem being identified.
However, consumers do not have the legal right to any remedy for problems they knew
about before they bought the dog, e.g. a genetic health defect specifically brought to the
attention of the consumer prior to purchase.
Time for action
The law sets a time limit for consumers to take legal action. In England and Wales this time
limit is generally six years from sale or delivery.
The short-term right to reject
If, when it is supplied, a dog is not as described, not of satisfactory quality or fit for purpose,
there is a short period during which the consumer is entitled to reject it. This short-term
right to reject dogs lasts for 30 days, which begins when the customer takes
possession/delivery of the dog.
When a consumer rejects a dog he/she can claim a refund, and must return the dog. A
refund must be given without undue delay and in any event within 14 days of the seller
agreeing that the consumer is entitled to a refund.
Repair or replacement
When there is a breach of contract, but the consumer has lost or chooses not to exercise
his/her right to reject the dog, he/she will be entitled, in the first instance, to claim
damages (e.g. entitlement to vet costs) or a replacement.
Where damages or a replacement is claimed, the seller must do this at no cost to the
consumer, within a reasonable time and without causing significant inconvenience. If
damages or replacement is not available or is unsuccessful, or is not provided within a
reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer, then he/she can
claim a price reduction or reject the dog.
A price reduction must be an appropriate amount, which will depend on all the
circumstances of the claim.It can be any amount up to the whole price.
If the consumer rejects the dog, they are entitled to a refund. This refund may be reduced
to take account of any use the consumer has had from the dog.
Note: that when a dog is rejected within six months of supply, in most cases, the consumer
is entitled to a full refund.
The burden of proof
If the consumer chooses damages, replacement, price reduction or the final right to reject,
and if the defect is discovered within six months of delivery, it is assumed that the fault was
there at the time of delivery unless the trader can prove otherwise. If more than six months
have passed, the consumer has to prove the defect was there at the time of delivery.
They must also prove the defect was there at the time of delivery if they exercise the short-term right to reject goods.
Unfair contract terms
Examples of potentially unfair contract terms:
• Terms excluding liability for breaches of contract, e.g. “No guarantee is given as to the
age/health of any puppy”.
• Excessive charges and disproportionate sanctions, e.g. “In the event of the purchaser
cancelling the contract, or failing to take delivery of the puppy, the full deposit 50%
paid will be forfeited to the seller”.
Your obligations to the consumer (Statutory)
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading
Regulations 2008
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (known as the CPRs)
control unfair practices used by traders when dealing with consumers, and create criminal
offences for traders that breach them. This legislation has replaced the Trade Descriptions
Act 1968.
What is prohibited?
Effectively the CPRs prohibit trading practices that are unfair to consumers. There are four
different types of practices to consider:
• practices prohibited in all circumstances;
• misleading actions and omissions;
• aggressive practices;
• general duty not to trade unfairly.
Practices prohibited in all circumstances
These include:
• False endorsements / authorizations: false claims of membership of trade associations/signatory of a code of conduct,
e.g. Kennel Club Accreditation.
• Misleading context / effect: failing to make it clear that a person is actually a breeder/trader or creating the
impression they are a consumer. E.g. failing to indicate trade status when selling
a puppy; creating the impression that a dog can legally be sold when in fact it cannot, e.g.
a dangerous dog.
Misleading actions & omissions
The CPRs prohibit 'misleading actions' and 'misleading omissions' that cause, or are likely to
cause, the average consumer to take a different transactional decision; that is, any decision
taken by the consumer concerning the purchasing of the dog or whether to exercise a
contractual right in relation to the dog, including decisions not to act. This does not only
relate to pre-shopping but includes after-sales and continues for the lifetime of the dog.
Misleading actions
Regulation 5 of the CPRs prohibits giving false information to, or deceiving consumers. A
misleading action occurs when a practice misleads through the information it contains or
its deceptive presentation and causes, or is likely to cause, the average consumer to take a
different transactional decision.
There are many examples of misleading actions:
• misleading information generally, advertising a puppy as K.C. registered when it’s not;
• pictorially misrepresenting how a puppy has been reared, giving the impression that
the puppy has been reared in a domestic environment, when in fact it has been
reared in kennels;
• failing to honour commitments made in a code of conduct, e.g. Kennel Club;
• Providing false information regarding the nature, attributes and rights of the trader,
e.g. qualifications.
Misleading omissions
Regulation 6 of the CPRs prohibits giving insufficient information about a product/dog. It is
a breach of the CPRs to fail to give consumers the information they need to make an
informed choice in relation to a product if this would cause, or be likely to cause, the
average consumer to take a different transactional decision. E.g. a dog breeder must
provide information regarding any corrective surgery/treatment for hernia etc.
Aggressive practices
Regulation 7 of the CPRs prohibits aggressive commercial practices that intimidate or
exploit consumers, restricting their ability to make free or informed choices. In order for an
aggressive practice to be unfair it must cause, or be likely to cause, the average consumer
to take a different transactional decision.
A commercial practice is aggressive if it:
• significantly impairs, or is likely to significantly impair, the average consumer's
freedom of choice or conduct in relation to the product through the use of
harassment, coercion or undue influence; and
• thereby causes them to take a different transactional decision.
Note: 'coercion' includes the use of physical force, and 'undue influence' means exploiting
a position of power in relation to the consumer so as to apply pressure - even without the
use of (or threatening to use) physical force - in a way that significantly limits the
consumer's ability to make an informed decision. E.g. insisting that a consumer purchases
dog food/pet insurance with the puppy or advising consumers that they need to make a
decision there and then as another customer is coming to view the puppy.
General duty not to trade unfairly
Regulation 3 is called "Prohibition of unfair commercial practices", which effectively means
failing to act in accordance with reasonable expectations of acceptable trading practice.
The regulation prohibits practices that:
• contravene the requirements of professional diligence (defined as the standard of
special skill and care that a trader may reasonably be expected to exercise towards
consumers, which is commensurate with either honest market practice in the
trader's field of activity or the general principle of good faith in the trader's field of
activity).
• materially distort the economic behavior of the average consumer (or are likely to)
with regard to the product - that is, appreciably to impair the average consumer's
ability to make an informed decision, thereby causing them to take a transactional
decision that they would not have taken otherwise.
For example, selling a Border Collie/Springer Spaniel to a consumer in the knowledge that
he/she lives in a small flat.
Misleading other businesses
Business Protection from Misleading Marketing
Regulations 2008
To mislead another trader via an advert regarding the characteristics (nature) of a dog can
constitute a criminal offence. An advert is defined within the legislation as any form of
representation which is made in connection with a trade or business in order to promote
the supply of a product. E.g. falsely describing a puppy on an invoice to a pet shop.
Please note: This article is not an authoritative interpretation of the law and is intended
only as a brief guide. Any legislation referred to, may have been
amended from the form in which it was originally enacted.
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