Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin with one of the "Do Not Knock" stickers designed to stop door-to-door salespeople.

OPINION: "Do not knock" stickers on front doors will be given special legal status, Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi announced on Tuesday.

When it happens (it may still be more than a year away), it will be a massive step forward for consumer protection.

Consumer has long battled for "Do not knock" stickers to have real standing, asking successive governments to make it an offence to ignore one.

Australia has done it. New Zealand should too.

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Everyone should have a right not to be bothered by salesmen knocking on their doors. Householders should have a legal right to demand that privacy by putting up a sign that's respected.

123RF Too often, door-to-door selling has been used by exploitative salespeople.

As Consumer puts it: "Everybody has an implied licence to enter your property and knock on your door. But you have the right to take away this licence."

Too often, door-to-door selling has been used by exploitative salespeople.

How often have we reporters written about dodgy vacuum cleaner salesmen, or people selling water coolers nobody needs, or over-priced maths software packages, or truck shops preying on the impoverished?

They knock on doors largely during business hours, meaning the elderly and the unemployed are their chief targets.

The modus operandi of exploitative door-knockers is to get one-on-one with people and sell them something they don't really need without the victim of their scheme being able to check the price, or the value at their own leisure.

Once, in the days before the internet and the proliferation of shops, door-to-door sales had a legitimate place in commerce.

But businesses can now easily advertise their wares to us all without having to knock on our doors.

JARED NICOLL/STUFF "Do not knock" stickers on front doors will be given special legal status, Kris Faafoi says.

You don't have to wait for the law change. Anyone who wants to put up a sign can do so today.

Consumer has a printable sticker available here for free.

Yes, it's not the most attractive thing to put on your front door, or gatepost, but then neither are the "No Junk Mail" signs you see everywhere.

Once Faafoi's reforms come in, hopefully, Bunnings and Mitre 10 will start selling nice brass, or stainless steel ones that are less obtrusive.

Faafoi's announcement came as part of a law reform designed to control lower-tier lenders, some of whom (like the truck shops) use door-knocking as a way of drumming up trade.

We do not know the full details of the proposed "do not knock" law, but Consumer expects an amendment to the Fair Trading Act making it an offence for somebody to ignore a "Do not knock" sticker.

Offenders will be punished with fines.

We have a lot of good law in New Zealand, but words on paper are just words on paper, unless they are enforced.

Government agencies seem to be getting more proactive at enforcing laws, which are too often ignored by businesses which believe they are unlikely to get caught.