Month: April 2004

 

Lord Drummond Young issued an important opinion for consumer protection law on 29 June 2005 in Office of Fair Trading v MB Designs (Scotland) Ltd 2005 GWD 22-393, when he granted to the OFT enforcement orders and interim enforcement orders under Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002 to prevent a double glazing company and its directors from supplying windows, doors and conservatories in breach of the quality provisions of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and the Sale of Goods Act 1979, and using clauses in contracts which contravened the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (by providing that pre-contractual representations did not form part of any contract unless added in writing on the face of the contract and signed by the customer and the company).  Lord Drummond Young held that the orders need not have the same precision as would be required for orders of interim interdict and interdict in Scots common law. 

The Naked Rambler had got as far as Glastonbury by 2 July 2005 (a little late for the Festival).  Progress can be followed on http://www.makedwalk.org, but it looks like it will be August in Scotland again.

The Smoking Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill passed in the Scottish Parliament on 30 June 2005. This is the Bill which will ban smoking in pubs, restaurants and other public places (see No 457).  The ban will come into force on 26 March 2006.

The Registrar General for Scotland, Duncan MacNiven, has decided that members of the Humanist Society for Scotland may be registered as marriage celebrants under the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977.  Twelve such persons have been licensed, and the first humanist wedding under the system took place at the interesting venue of Edinburgh Zoo on 18 June 2005.  The happy couple were Karen Watts and Martijn Reijns.