The consumer strategy group recommends that a consistent approach to casual trading be applied across all local authorities and that this be done by means of statutory guidelines. The Government in its decision on the report of the consumer strategy group decided to establish a high level interdepartmental committee to examine the recommendations and report back to Government within three months with a detailed implementation plan.
This recommendation will be considered by the high level committee along with all the other recommendations. Without wishing to pre-empt the conclusions of the high level committee the logical way to implement this recommendation is to amend the Casual Trading Act 1995 to provide that I, as Minister, could issue statutory guidelines as how casual trading should be regulated in a consistent way throughout the country. Such guidelines would cover issues such as types of licences, criteria for setting of fees, appropriate pitch sizes, etc. In this context, I will consult local authorities and traders within the coming weeks on a set of voluntary guidelines. If these are accepted, they will go a long way towards standardising and making fair the operation of casual trading laws throughout the country.