Vol. 525 No. 3
170 Mr. Perry asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps she will take to ensure that claims made by food retailers in relation to their support for Irish products are accurate and correct and that the public are not misled by exaggerated or misguided claims in view of a recent report by the Advertising Standards Authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25131/00]
Consumer protection against misleading advertising exists on a statutory as well as on a non-statutory or self-regulatory basis. The statutory protection derives from the Consumer Information Act, 1978, which makes it an offence to publish any advertisement that is likely to mislead and thereby cause loss, damage or injury to members of the public to a material degree. In addition, it is open to any person to apply to the High Court for an order to prohibit the publication of misleading advertising under the European Communities (Misleading Advertising) Regulations, 1988.
Non-statutory protection is assured by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, which is an independent self-regulatory body set up by the advertising industry to promote and uphold certain standards of advertising and sales promotion by their members. The association will investigate complaints made by individual members of the public. I am very supportive of all efforts by industry to adopt and adhere to standards of best practice on a voluntary basis.
I understand that the report referred to by the Deputy concerns the findings made by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland in relation to an intra-industry complaint submitted to them for investigation by one of their members; and that the association has made certain recommendations to its members on foot of the investigation.
