International Business Management
ISSN: OnlineISSN: Print 1993-5250
Abstract
In the era of globalisation with the complexities of the chain of trading and sales, consumers are no longer the market players but the weakest group in the market economy. One of the most effective ways in providing consumer protection is through consumer right to redress. The right to redress raises the issues of remedies in law. Remedies are often linked with rights, rights and remedies are intertwined, the right derives from the remedy and as a matter of sequence the remedy precedes the right. Consequently, the absence of a remedy points to the non-existence of a legal right. With the formal establishment of ASEAN Community 2015 and towards the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, consumer protection is among others, one of the criteria in a deeper integration process in achieving people-oriented and people centred ASEAN Community. The enactment of consumer protection legislations among the ASEAN countries marked a new era of consumer protection in ASEAN. In Malaysia with the increase awareness of consumerism, the Consumer Protection Act 1999 was enacted to provide a comprehensive scheme of protection for consumers. After many years of lobbying, Singapore has also enacted the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act in 2003. Nevertheless the difference in the approach taken by the legislature in each country calls for a comparative study of the remedial scheme provided by the relevant legislation. This study aims at analysing the similarities and differences in the remedies available to consumers in sale of goods contracts under the Malaysian Consumer Protection Act 1999 and the Singaporean Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003. Malaysia and Singapore, being among the founding fathers of ASEAN have been chosen as the focus of study based on the similarities in their legal traditions and the English law being the origin of the countrie’s sale legislations. Adopting the doctrinal legal research methodology this study emphasises on the comparative, analytical and critical approaches in the study of consumer’s sale of goods remedies under the Malaysian and Singaporean legislations.
How to cite this article:
Ong Tze Chin and Sakina Shaik Ahmad Yusoff. ASEAN Consumer Contract Laws: Consumer Remedies in
Malaysia and Singapore.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36478/ibm.2017.1328.1335
URL: https://www.makhillpublications.co/view-article/1993-5250/ibm.2017.1328.1335