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bruneilawsby aturio
In force2023 Revised Edition
Contents

6. Consumer’s right to sue for unfair practice

In plain English

A consumer may sue a supplier over a transaction involving an unfair practice. Claims over $10,000, or another limit the minister sets, cannot go ahead unless the excess is dropped. A court may pause the case during a related application against the supplier. If no party acts for 2 or more years, the court may end a paused case.

Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.

(1)

A consumer who has entered a consumer transaction involving an unfair practice may commence an action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the supplier.

(2)

The right to commence an action under subsection (1) does not apply where —

(a)

the amount of the claim exceeds the prescribed limit; or

(b)

there is no claim for money, and the remedy or relief sought in the action is in respect of a subject matter the value of which exceeds the prescribed limit.

(3)

For the purposes of subsection (2)(a), where the amount claimed consists of a balance not exceeding the prescribed limit after set-off of any amount claimed or recoverable by the supplier from the consumer, being a set-off admitted by the consumer in the particulars of his claim, the amount of the claim shall not be taken to exceed the prescribed limit.

Consumer Protection

(Fair Trading)

(4)

For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), where the subject matter in an action is a residential property, its value shall be —

(a)

the annual value of the immovable property based on market value;

(b)

the annual rent, or 12 times the monthly rent, payable by the tenant in respect of the immovable property (if this value is lower than the value in paragraph (a)); or

(c)

if the annual value, annual rent or monthly rent cannot be ascertained, one-tenth of the last transacted price.

(5)

Where the amount of a claim in an action under subsection (1)

exceeds the prescribed limit, the consumer may abandon the excess and thereafter —

(a)

the amount of the claim is deemed to be within the prescribed limit;

(b)

the consumer shall not recover in that action an amount exceeding the prescribed limit; and

(c)

an order of the court in relation to that action shall be in full discharge of all demands in respect of that cause of action.

(6)

The prescribed limit referred to in this section shall be $10,000 or such other amount as the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, prescribe.

(7)

Any party to an action in a court under subsection (1) may, at any time, apply to that court to stay the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to an unfair practice in respect of which an application has been made under section 9 against the same supplier.

(8)

The court to which an application under subsection (7) has been made may, if the court is satisfied that the determination in respect of the application under section 9 will be material to the action under subsection (1), make an order, upon such terms as the court thinks fit, staying the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to that unfair practice.

Consumer Protection

(Fair Trading)

(9)

Where no party to the proceedings has taken any further step in the proceedings for a period of 2 or more years after an order staying the proceedings has been made, the court may, on its own motion, make an order discontinuing the proceedings without prejudice to the right of any of the parties to apply for the discontinued proceedings to be reinstated.

Read on from s 7

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