Amendments to Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on protection of consumer rights come into force on 7^th of May

On April 22, 2016 the President of Kazakhstan signed the Law "On introducing amendments and addenda to some legislative acts of Kazakhstan on issues of consumer protection". The law comes into force on 7^th of May this year.

The law provides for separation of powers of the Committee on Consumer Protection of the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan in the field of consumer protection, whose competence also includes the provision of sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population, monitoring and supervision of compliance with the requirements established by technical regulations and regulations on the production of documents and services, sold to consumers, to ensure food safety at the stage of its implementation. In this respect, the law introduces relevant amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences, the Code "On people's health and the health care system", the laws "On food safety".

 The law also provides for the novelties, which are aimed directly at protecting consumers' rights. So, in order to avoid unfair competition and to protect the rights of consumers, was introduced the concept "discounted goods" and "sale". The order of sales of discounted goods will be established by internal rules of trade.

In addition, the law "On Advertising" bans advertising of housing under construction, as well as an apartment house, which were first commissioned (residential building) and do not comply with the appropriate design documentation and classification of residential buildings provided by state building codes.

 Government agencies are now required to place in the media statistical data on received appeals on violations of consumers' rights, the results of their review and information on the activities in the field of consumer protection.

Entrepreneurs should pay attention to the following innovations.

1. The seller (performer, producer) must not include in the contract with the consumer conditions that violate the rights of consumers. These conditions, among others laws, include: exemption or unduly limiting liability of the seller (manufacturer, performer) in the case of harm to life, health and (or) property of the consumer; determination of consumer’s obligations imposed additionally by a seller (performer, producer) for paid goods (works, services); giving the seller (artist, manufacturer) the right to unilaterally change and (or) terminate the contract without observing the norms of the Civil Code on the grounds and procedure for amendment and termination of the contract; to transfer its rights and obligations under the contract to a third party without observing the norms of the Civil Code on the change of persons in the obligation, etc.

However, the law specifies the requirements for the sale, return and replacement of goods. Thus, by analogy with the provisions of the Civil Code, the Law "On Protection of Consumers' Rights amended to provide that the consumer is entitled to make a claim about the shortcomings of components and parts of the product, during the warranty period for the basic product, in this case, if a component: is guaranteed for a longer duration than the basic product, the warranty period regardless of the expiration of the warranty period for the basic product, is valid for the components.

Under the previous edition of the law, the term of elimination of defects was 10 calendar days, unless otherwise established by the contract. The Law introduces clarifying amendment, according to which the term established by the contract can not be more than 20 calendar days, but by the agreement of the parties it may be extended to 10 calendar days. At the same time it is determined that the lack of necessary to spare parts to eliminate the shortcomings of the goods (parts and materials), equipment, and other specialist does not constitute grounds for exemption of liability from the manufacturer (seller) for violation of terms of elimination of defects of the goods.

The law also provides that if the seller (manufacturer) upon request doesn’t have the necessary goods for replacement, the seller must replace it within ten calendar days from the date of such request.

Law "On Protection of Consumers' Rights is supplemented by a norm, which provides that when occurs a substantial increase of cost of materials and equipment after the conclusion of the contract, the Executive has the right to demand an increase of the established budget, and in case of consumer’s disagreement - the contract can be terminated.

Amendments were introduced to the Law "On Electric Power Industry", according to which the energy supplying organization is not entitled to terminate the thermal energy supply to the consumer in the presence of debt for the used electricity and heat.

The administrative responsibility was strengthened. In particular, it provides for the suspension of the activities of the offender with the confiscation of goods or without it in case of occurrence of another offence in the field of technical regulation (Article 415 of the Administrative Code), as well as the confiscation of goods at a repeated infringement in the field of sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population of legal requirements, as well as hygienic standards (article 425 of the Administrative Code).

During the consideration of the Act by the Parliament, the following provisions have been eliminated, to which the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs "Atameken" had objections: the duty of the seller (manufacturer) to provide to the consumer during the maintenance period similar goods that meet the same consumer properties, ensuring the delivery at own expense; obligation of the seller (manufacturer, executor) to provide maintenance and warranty repair of the goods, as well as the production and supply of spare parts for the organization, which carry out maintenance and repairs during the whole period of its production.