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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 17 Jul 1975

Vol. 283 No. 11

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Colour TV Sets.

8.

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if the NCAC has issued a code of practice for sellers of colour TV sets in accordance with a recommendation of the NPC Report 27, paragraph 55.

The National Consumers' Advisory Council has not issued such a code.

Did the Parliamentary Secretary read the report?

Would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that it would be in the interests of the community that such a code should be issued, and what responsibility has he in regard to advising the NCAC to bring out codes like this?

I understand that the relevant passage from the National Prices Commission Report was drawn to the attention of the National Consumers' Advisory Council and circulated to the membership. However, the NCAC have been extensively involved since their foundation in the preparation of recommendations for legislation and, with the exception of certain matters relating to food products, have not got down to individual problems such as the drafting of such a code. I would agree that such a code would be useful, and I think it should be a voluntary code which might be drawn up in the long run in consultation between the NCAC and the retail interests involved.

Would the Parliamentary Secretary say that the ethics revealed by the report are certainly frightening to the ordinary citizen?

The main problem revealed in the report was that it was very difficult for consumers to make an effective comparison between the terms offered by different retail outlets and——

Hard to get the truth, in other words.

——and different forms of purchase. I would agree that something should be done to make the terms more transparent from the point of view of the consumer. However, I would not like to see a code which was so rigid in relation to specifications that it led to an undue degree of collusion in a market which, I think everybody must agree, is a very competitive one at present.

I doubt that. Different answers to the same question several times in one day.

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