CONSUMER PROTECTION (FAIR TRADING) ACT
(CHAPTER 52A)
An Act to protect consumers against unfair practices and to give consumers additional rights in respect of goods that do not conform to contract, and for matters connected therewith.
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1. This Act may be cited as the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act.
Consumer’s right to sue for unfair practice
6.—(1) A consumer who has entered a consumer transaction
involving an unfair practice may commence an action in a court of
competent jurisdiction against the supplier.
(2) The right to commence an action under subsection (1) shall not
apply where —
(a) the amount of the claim exceeds the prescribed limit; or
(b) there is no claim for money, and the remedy or relief sought in
the action is in respect of a subject-matter the value of which
exceeds the prescribed limit.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(a), where the amount claimed
consists of a balance not exceeding the prescribed limit after set-off of
any amount claimed or recoverable by the supplier from the
consumer, being a set-off admitted by the consumer in the
particulars of his claim, the amount of the claim shall not be taken
to exceed the prescribed limit.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), where the subject-matter
in an action is a residential property, its value shall be —
(a) the annual value of the immovable property appearing in the
Valuation List prepared under section 10 of the Property Tax
Act (Cap. 254);
(b) the annual rent, or 12 times the monthly rent, payable by the
tenant in respect of the immovable property (if this value is
lower than the value in paragraph (a)); or (c) if the annual value, annual rent or monthly rent cannot be
ascertained, one-tenth of the last transacted price.
(5) Where the amount of a claim in an action under subsection (1)
exceeds the prescribed limit, the consumer may abandon the excess
and thereafter —
(a) the amount of the claim shall be deemed to be within the
prescribed limit;
(b) the consumer shall not recover in that action an amount
exceeding the prescribed limit; and
(c) an order of the court in relation to that action shall be in full
discharge of all demands in respect of that cause of action.
(6) The prescribed limit referred to in this section shall be $30,000
or such other amount as the Minister may, by order in the Gazette,
prescribe.
(7) Any party to an action in a court under subsection (1) may, at any
time, apply to that court to stay the proceedings so far as the
proceedings relate to an unfair practice in respect of which an
application has been made under section 9 against the same supplier.
(8) The court to which an application under subsection (7) has been
made may, if the court is satisfied that the determination in respect of
the application under section 9 will be material to the action under
subsection (1), make an order, upon such terms as the court thinks fit,
staying the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to that unfair
practice.
(9) Where no party to the proceedings has taken any further step in
the proceedings for a period of 2 or more years after an order staying
the proceedings has been made, the court may, on its own motion,
make an order discontinuing the proceedings without prejudice to the
right of any of the parties to apply for the discontinued proceedings to
be reinstated.