Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 January 2014
137. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 260 of 4 December 2012, the progress made in 2013 with regard to implementation of the recommendations of the sales law review group report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1891/14]
View answerMy Department’s work on the implementation of the recommendations of the Sales Law Review Group has focused on the provisions to be included in the modernised and consolidated Consumer Contract Rights Bill recommended by the Group. In addition to updating and unifying rights and remedies for all of the main forms of consumer contract in line with the Review Group’s recommendations, the Bill will include provisions on matters not previously regulated in Irish consumer legislation such as digital content. A consultation paper on the main issues to be covered by the proposed legislation is currently being prepared with a view to its publication in the first quarter of this year. While it had been hoped to issue this paper in 2013, priority had to be given in the first half of the year to work arising from our Presidency of the European Union, in particular the proposal for a Common European Sales Law, and, in the second half of the year, to the drafting of Regulations to give effect to Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights which Member States were required to transpose by 13 December 2013. As the Common European Sales Law deals with matters directly relevant to the proposed Bill and as the Regulations giving effect to the Consumer Rights Directive will be incorporated in the Bill, the work undertaken in both areas in 2013 will materially assist in the preparation of the scheme of the Bill.
