{"id":1832,"date":"2016-06-28T13:50:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T12:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/scotlands-economy\/?p=1832"},"modified":"2016-08-28T14:23:02","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T13:23:02","slug":"protecting-consumers-businesses-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/scotlands-economy\/2016\/06\/28\/protecting-consumers-businesses-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting consumers &#038; businesses in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Consumers and businesses in Scotland have a distinct voice and this deserves to be heard. The Scottish Government recognises this and that\u2019s why we intend to use our newly devolved powers over competition to achieve greater fairness for Scots buying and selling goods, services or digital content in the public and private sectors.<\/p>\n<p>The devolution of certain competition powers gives us the opportunity to ensure that Scotland\u2019s markets are competitive and fairer to consumers. To do this, we need to know where markets are not working as well so that action can be taken to help.<\/p>\n<p><em><a title=\"The Strategic Assesment of Markets in Scotland\" href=\"http:\/\/gov.scot\/Publications\/2016\/06\/5280\">The Strategic Assessment of Markets in Scotland<\/a><\/em> research informs our first steps in identifying markets where Scottish consumers may not be getting a fair deal. It<\/p>\n<p>highlights areas where Scottish consumers\u2019 economic, geographic and social circumstances are different to other parts of the UK and may pose a different set of challenges.<\/p>\n<p>In doing so, it informs the process of creating a tailor-made approach to protecting consumers\u2019 interests in Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>The research identifies a number of key issues that will require further work. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The impact of new types of \u2018disruptive\u2019 business models on markets &#8211; for example businesses that allow people to sell goods and services online in new ways<\/li>\n<li>Why Scottish consumers don\u2019t switch more often in regulated markets, such as with gas and electricity<\/li>\n<li>How Scotland\u2019s geography, and spread of wealth, affects the way people buy and sell goods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>New ways to empower consumers to make informed choices in complex markets such as health, social care and in the legal sector<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that on-going competition and regulatory investigations take sufficient account of Scottish issues<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Scottish Government will use its competition powers to ensure that Scotland\u2019s markets are competitive and fair to consumers and, where this is not the case, to work with stakeholders to develop the appropriate evidence to address these concerns. This research offers crucial insight into how we will go about this work.<\/p>\n<p>Read <em><a title=\"The Strategic Assessment of Markets in Scotland\" href=\"http:\/\/gov.scot\/Publications\/2016\/06\/5280\" target=\"_blank\">The Strategic Assessment of Markets in Scotland<\/a> <\/em>in full<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consumers and businesses in Scotland have a distinct voice and this deserves to be heard. The Scottish Government recognises this and that\u2019s why we intend to use our newly devolved powers over competition to achieve greater fairness for Scots buying and selling goods, services or digital content in the public and private sectors. The devolution&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Protecting consumers &amp; businesses in Scotland - Scotland&#039;s Economy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/scotlands-economy\/2016\/06\/28\/protecting-consumers-businesses-in-scotland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protecting consumers &amp; businesses in Scotland - Scotland&#039;s Economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Consumers and businesses in Scotland have a distinct voice and this deserves to be heard. 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