It was not long after Labour took power in 1997, that plans were announced to scrap the 1964 Trading Stamps Act. Finally, the much unloved and for many years completely unenforced and unused statute has bitten the dust. We report at s
Background:
The Trading Stamps Act 1964 was introduced in the era of "Green Shield" and "Pink" trading stamp schemes, the precursors to today's loyalty schemes. To address consumer protection concerns whose precise rationale remains unclear to this day, the statute introduced a regime whereby any trading stamp or other voucher issued in connection with a purchase had to carry a cash redemption value. A related rule said that if the cash redemption value of such stamps collected aggregated to 25p or more, then the stamps had to be capable of being cashed in with the retailer.
This then was the law behind the appearance to this day of ridiculously low values such as '0.001p' on money off next purchase vouchers for example, although there was precious little evidence of the 1964 statute being either complied with, taken advantage of by consumers or enforced.
Proposed new law:
Shortly after it first came to power, the 1997 Labour administration indicated that the Trading Stamps Act would be scrapped. At last, after an inexplicable delay, the Government has at the last gasp of this administration finally done the job and companies issuing trading stamps or any other vouchers in connection with a purchase no longer have to include a cash redemption value.
They also no longer have to live with the possibility that they may be legally obliged to redeem for cash vouchers whose face value tots up to 25p or more.
Next important date:
This has already happened: the Trading Standards Act 1964 was repealed on 6 April 2005.
