2. Interpretation
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(1) In this Act—
“applicant” means an eligible company which applies under section 4;
“action” includes counterclaim and set off;
“agreement” means an agreement or lay away plan to which this Act applies;
“assignee” means the person to whom the rights of the hirer or owner have been transferred;
“assignor” means the person transferring the rights of hirer or owner;
“Court” means the court, or a Judge of the court, that has jurisdiction over the matter;
“credit-sale agreement” means an agreement for the sale of goods under which the purchase price or part of it is payable in installments and the property in the goods passes to the buyer immediately on the making of the credit-sale agreement;
“guarantor” means a person who has promised the performance by a consumer of all or any of his or her obligations under an agreement but does not include the dealer or a person engaged at the time of the giving of the guarantee in the trade or business of selling goods of the same nature or description as the goods comprised in the agreement;
“hire-purchase agreement” means an agreement for the purchase of goods by installment payments and under which the person who agrees to purchase the goods is given possession of the goods on hire on condition that such person pays the agreed amount in periodical installments and the owner agrees that the property in the goods is to pass to such person on the payment of the last of such installments;
“hirer” means the person or his or her agent who takes or has taken goods from an owner under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the hirer's rights or liabilities under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law;
“hire-purchase price” means the total sum payable by the hirer under a hire-purchase agreement when interest and other charges are applied to the regular price in order to complete the purchase of goods to which the hire-purchase agreement relates, exclusive of any sum payable as a penalty or as compensation or damages for a breach of the hire-purchase agreement;
“lay away plan” means any plan whereby a seller of goods offers such goods for sale to the public on terms which permit periodic payment for such goods and with respect to which delivery is deferred until completion of payment of the entire purchase price;
“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Commerce;
“owner” means the person or his or her agent who lets or delivers possession of goods to a hirer under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the owner's interest in the goods or the owner's rights or liabilities under the hire-purchase agreement has passed by assignment or by operation of law;
“person” includes a body corporate or an unincorporated body;
“regular price” means the normal price allocated to any good for the purpose of calculating the total sum payable under a hire-purchase agreement;
“Regulations” means Regulations made pursuant to section 63.