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Consumer Protection

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 July 2018

Tuesday, 10 July 2018

Questions (74)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

74. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if she is satisfied with national consumer legislation in place to protect consumers from false advertising from online blogger influencers. [30637/18]

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Oral answers (9 contributions)

Is the Minister satisfied with the national consumer protection legislation in place to protect consumers from false advertising from online blogger influencers? Observing how retail has evolved in recent years, there is a need to look at how we protect consumers when we have people who have a huge social media following. I refer to big bloggers who are key influencers in people's purchasing habits. Is there legislation in place to protect that?

 The Consumer Protection Act 2007 - specifically sections 43, 46, 47, 55 and 56 - implements the directive on unfair commercial practices and gives consumers protection from false advertising by online bloggers and influencers.

A study undertaken on behalf of the European Commission as part of the recent fitness check of EU consumer protection law concluded that the directive’s principles-based approach, combined with its blacklist of prohibited practices, had provided an effective framework for consumer protection from unfair and misleading commercial practices.

The directive was also sufficiently future-proofed and technologically neutral to allow it to address new products, media and sales methods.

A parallel review of Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights identified a need for additional information requirements for contracts concluded on online marketplaces such as eBay, Facebook and YouTube. The recently published proposal for a directive on the better enforcement and modernisation of EU consumer protection law includes a provision that places a direct obligation on online marketplaces to indicate whether a third party offering goods, services or digital content is a trader. If, as expected and supported by my Department, this provision is adopted at EU level, it will further assist in clarifying the commercial status of online influencers and countering misinformation on that status. If the Deputy has concerns that some of the practices of online influencers may not be adequately dealt with by these provisions, I would be glad to receive details of any such practice from him.  That is important; it is what public representatives should do.

The system of industry self-regulation of advertising administered by the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland also has an important role to play in protecting consumers from false and misleading advertising.  The authority's code of standards for advertising and marketing includes a number of provisions relevant to the activities of online influencers. Its complaints committee has considered a number of complaints related to these activities.

This was brought about because of a complaint which was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland. The complainant said the blogger had photoshopped and filtered her face while advertising a Rimmel foundation. I am not quite sure whether the Minister of State uses Rimmel foundation. I do not. The important point, however, is that people who are key influencers of purchasing habits are able to circumvent laws and advertise in a false and misleading way which undermines the integrity of the system. Is the Minister of State satisfied that we have enough powers in the area of consumer protection to ensure online bloggers and influencers are obligated by statute to comply with the standards we expect from retail stores on the high street or in any other form of advertising to consumers across the economy?

The European Union carried out a fitness check of the Consumer Protection Act to ensure it complied with EU consumer protection law and concluded that the approach we had taken was very effective, particularly in providing protection from unfair and misleading commercial practices. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission which enforces the Act has only received three calls since 2016 from consumers about the activities of online influencers. It, of course, provided those callers with the relevant consumer protection advice. There have been no prosecutions or enforcement actions to date for breach of the provisions by online influencers. The law is in place and adequately served by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. It is kept under review all of the time, particularly as a result of the fitness check carried out by the European Commission. It did not recommend any addition to the unfair commercial practices directive to cover the relevant activities of online influencers.

To be helpful to the Minister of State, the foundation in question keeps one's skin moisturised for up to 25 hours, providing a flawless foundation and finish all day for work and play. I asked the question to ascertain whether the Minister of State was satisfied-----

The Deputy had better tell the House that he has no interest in it.

I will take some of it.

I have buckets of it in my car. If the Minister of State is satisfied, that is fine. However, bloggers and key influencers hold huge sway over how people view a product. We should consistently observe this issue and keep on top of it to ensure that, as online purchasing becomes more prevalent, those participating will be obligated to ensure a product is advertised accurately. Otherwise one might buy a product that does not actually offer the consumer 25 hours of lasting freshness for work and play.

If the Deputy has concerns about malpractices online, he should report them to me straight away and I would be delighted to deal with them. The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland, ASAI, was not mentioned, but it has a very important role to play. It is an independent body which is financed by the advertising industry. Consumers can also refer complaints to it. In 2017, 2,100 complaints were referred to it, of which 75 were upheld. The authority's complaints committee has also considered three complaints from online influencers since 2017. One of these complaints is the one to which the Deputy has referred, involving images of beauty bloggers which had been photoshopped and filtered. The complaint was upheld. This shows that the authority is on top of its brief. In the other two cases the committee issued a statement which read: "Members of the ASAI are required to abide by the code and not to publish or continue to publish any advertising which contravenes the code rule". Between the ASAI, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the fitness check carried out by the European Commission, we are satisfied that we are on top of the issue. Of course, we read from time to time in newspapers about complaints against advertisements which have been upheld by the ASAI and the advertisements have been removed.

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