Teacher Guide to the MCA Website

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs website is designed to support its vision: Creating confident consumers.

What’s on our website

The different website sections allow visitors to choose what type of information they want:

• About us – information about the Ministry and how to contact us

• Consumer Information – advice and information on a wide range of topics

• Business Information – advice and information on a wide range of topics for retailers, manufacturers, importers and service providers, to help achieve a fair and informed marketplace

• Policy, Law and Research  - a section on policy and law, including discussion papers that give guidance and recommendations to lawmakers, and the research the Ministry does to find out about knowledge gaps

• Measurement – information about weights and measures and New Zealand requirements

• Product Safety - information for consumers on how to use products safely and how to make sure that the products you buy are safe; and information that businesses need to be aware of when manufacturing, importing and selling products

• Scamwatch - online service to warn New Zealand consumers about specific types of financial scams from overseas sources

• Publications  - the range of different printed publications for both consumers and business

• Education – our ACE Consumer resource, designed for Social Studies teachers and students to help them learn how to become Active, Critical and Enquiring consumers.

We also have extra functions in our navigation bar at the very top of each page:

• Site map – an area that sorts the information on the website in a different way than presented on the home page

• News – links to the latest site updates, press releases, columns, and newsletters

• Media Centre – media releases, our fortnightly column (A Word of Advice), newsletters, and contact details for Ministry media contacts

• Search – when you are looking for something specific that you can’t find elsewhere.

When using ACE Consumer

Teachers may need to guide students on where to look for information on the MCA website when the students are completing the research inquiries in ACE Consumer or when answering questions raised from the Activities. Most of the information will be found in the Consumer Information sub-section of the website.

Direction to specific topics on the website is provided below.

Two key areas

The two key areas of consumer law are the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) and Fair Trading Act (FTA):

Consumer Guarantees Act – consumer information

Consumer Guarantees Act – business responsibilities

Consumer Guarantees Act - rights of business

Fair Trading Act – consumer information

Fair Trading Act – business responsibilities

Wordbank/Glossary

Pricing

Returns and refunds

Faulty goods

Seeking redress – making a complaint

Making a complaint

Customer complaints - rights of business

Making complaints - rights of consumers

Is it worth making a complaint?

(Note – this section gives guidance on making a complaint, but only the consumer can decide if the complaint is worth making).

Weights and measures

Weights and measures - background information

Weights and measures - consumer information

Weigh in and Measure up booklet - for consumers

measurement converter

Product Safety

Product Safety - background information

Bursting hot water bottle – product safety

Bursting hot water bottle – unsafe goods notice

Product Safety Standards

Banned goods - unsafe goods notices

Investigating product recalls - list of links to other product recall websites

Investigating product recalls - Business information

Other websites of interest

Standards New Zealand

Commerce Commission

Consumers' Institute