Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 May 2021
133. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of instances in which the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has directed companies to amend or change its adverts to truly reflect the content of the product or the effectiveness of the product in the past five years to date. [23130/21]
View answer134. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of instances in which the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has directed companies or persons to amend advertisements of products online here in order to comply with the Consumer Protection Act 2007 since 2016 to date in 2021; and the number of sanctions issued as a result of same. [23131/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 134 together.
Section 9 (5) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the CCPC is independent in the performance of its functions. As enforcement matters generally are part of the day-to-day operational work of the CCPC, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has no direct function in the matter.
Nevertheless, as Minister of State in the Department, I can confirm that the CCPC has informed me in relation to these questions that the CCPC itself does not test products to determine their content or effectiveness. Where concerns are raised in relation to traders’ activities, including any advertisements that may represent a misleading commercial practice, as defined under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, the CCPC has its own procedures to screen and assess the issue concerned. The CCPC has informed me that this encompasses an assessment of the activity against the relevant statutory provisions of Consumer Protection legislation and, where they identify potential breaches, take the appropriate action. This may also include inspections of traders’ activities to ensure they are providing consumers with accurate information in relation to the products on sale and that they are complying with relevant consumer protection legislation. Where breaches are found the CCPC has a range of sanctions available to it, ranging from direct engagements with the trader to more formal civil and criminal enforcement actions.
When an enforcement action is taken, the CCPC is required to keep and maintain a list of names and addresses of the relevant companies and individuals. The CCPC places the names and addresses of the relevant companies and individuals together with the description of the trade, business or profession and any particulars the CCPC may consider appropriate in respect of the enforcement actions, on this list. This list is the Consumer Protection List (CPL), which the CCPC publishes each year. A review of the CPL’s for the period 2016-2020 shows that there were 187 enforcement actions taken against a range of traders across various sectors. One of the types of enforcement action taken is a Compliance Notice, which can direct a trader to take remedial action to bring it in line with relevant consumer protection legislation. A “direction” to companies, as outlined in the PQ, is taken to mean a direction through a Compliance Notice, as set out in Section 75 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007. The CCPC have confirmed with me that in the 2018 CPL there were two Compliance Notices issued that included directions to traders to “provide true and accurate information with respect to their status as a trader in all communications, including advertisements”. These related to traders operating in the motor trade sector.
The CCPC informed me that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the CCPC’s ability to conduct in-store inspections at trader’s premises. As a result of this development and also to reflect the move by consumers to more online purchases in 2020, the CCPC moved the focus of their compliance inspection online in the second half of last year. Over 50 websites were inspected in 2020 to assess traders’ compliance with a range of legislation and any necessary follow up enforcement actions in relation to those inspections are ongoing.
In addition to enforcement actions, the CCPC may engage with traders where they identify potential breaches of consumer protection legislation in order to bring about compliance. Where this is not achieved on a voluntary basis, the CCPC may follow up with more formal compliance action. The CCPC is also very proactive in relation to informing businesses about their obligations in relation to consumer protection legislation, including their obligations regarding advertising. Some specific initiatives in this regard can be found on the CCPC website such as:
- Guidance on advertising for business and their obligations in relation to consumer protection legislation.
- Guidelines for business on selling online, which also includes guidance for social media channels as traders that use social media channels to sell goods or services, may be considered a business and it is important that they check what their obligations are.
- Guidance for traders on the Textile Labelling Regulations.
- Guidance on product prices as traders must display the selling price of every item offered for sale, and make it clear what particular item the price relates to.
In addition, the CCPC has informed me that they proactively engage with business in relation to their obligations in this area. Some recent examples include the CCPC participation in February this year in the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) webinar on influencer marketing in which the CCPC availed of the opportunity to inform online influencers of their legal obligations when advertising and promoting products online. The CCPC has also recently worked with the Local Enterprise Office to provide a series of training sessions to SME Retail Groups in relation to their consumer protection obligations, including advertising.
