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Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999

These Regulations give consumers protection from unfair standard terms in contracts with businesses. Unfair standard terms are those which attempt to weigh the contract against the consumer and in favour of the business, eg a term which stated the business accepted no liability for death or injury or which sought to introduce penalty clauses. A consumer is not bound by an unfair standard term in a contract. Also, the Office of Fair Trading can step in to protect consumers in general by seeking to prevent the continued use of any particular unfair term. This power has been extended to other bodies, including the Trading Standards Service.