Clairvoyants - epetition reply
29 February 2008
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Consider the discriminatory implications of singling out the Spiritualist religion for inclusion within the Consumer Protection Regulations and not other religions. Any changes to the Fraudulent Mediums Act should only be made after extensive consultation with all the main spiritualist organisations."
Details of Petition:
"Whilst we agree that those who are deliberately fraudulent should be prosecuted it should be remembered that, other than the Church of England, Spiritualism is the only other legally recognised religion in this country. The others are only tolerated. The Religious Discrimination Act states that all religions should be treated equally. If Spiritualism is to be included within these regulations then so should all the other religions."
Read the Government's response
The Consumer Protection Regulations implement the EC Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. The Directive harmonises Member States' laws protecting consumers from unfair trading. It requires traders in all sectors not to behave unfairly towards consumers.
The Consumer Protection Regulations will apply to the activities of all persons acting in trade or business connected with the supply of goods and services to consumers. The Regulations will prohibit those activities that are misleading or aggressive. So the Regulations will not affect the supply of spiritualistic services in themselves. They will however apply to misleading activities related to the supply of such services. Consumers must be protected from misleading activities by traders connected with the supply of all services including spiritualistic services.
The EC Unfair Commercial Practices Directive's broad scope means that it overlaps with much existing legislation intended to protect consumers from unfair trading. The Government has decided to repeal most of this overlapping legislation, including the Fraudulent Mediums Act, to modernise and simplify the law in this area.
Further Information
Young People's website