Observers of the consumer scene will be familiar with the present pattern of law: major reliance on separate, sometimes overlapping, mostly strict-liability, criminal offences; civil rights still trying to shake themselves free from the laissez faire attitudes of a past century; byzantine licensing and public enforcement “systems” insufficiently funded; with private enforcement largely priced beyond the purse of John Citizen.

Just one of the reforms for which the foregoing is crying out is some generalized, effectively enforced, conduct-setting, standards. For some time there has been such a general duty on anyone who designs or manufactures articles for use at work (Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, s. 6). While John Citizen has thus been protected qua worker, until recently there has been nothing comparable to protect him qua consumer. However, the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (CPA) has begun to change this by introducing two general duties: Part