Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 April 2022
33. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he is undertaking new initiatives in the area of consumer protection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18656/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI will be introducing new and enhanced consumer protection measures shortly with the publication of the Consumer Rights Bill 2022 and its introduction into the Houses and also through the transposition of the Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Bill later in the year.
The purpose of the Consumer Rights Bill is to give effect to a number of EU consumer rights Directives, including:
1. Directive 2019/770 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services;
2. Directive 2019/771 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods; and
3. the main provisions of Directive 2019/2161 on the better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules.
The Bill will also consolidate, modernise and enhance domestic consumer contract law by bringing existing provisions together in a single enactment. The main provisions of the Bill include:
- rights and remedies in consumer contracts for the sale of goods;
- rights and remedies in consumer contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services;
- rights and remedies in consumer contracts for non-digital services;
- consumer information and cancellation rights;
- unfair terms in consumer contracts;
- unfair commercial practices;
- enhanced enforcement measures available to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
Services account for an increasingly large part of consumer activity and expenditure. The rights of consumers in respect of service contracts will be expanded and a scheme of statutory remedies will be established to apply where a service does not conform to these rights.
Consumer contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services have not previously been the subject of specific statutory regulation. While digital content supplied in tangible form such as a cd or dvd is subject to the rights and remedies in current legislation, digital content supplied, as is now mainly the case, in intangible form, through downloads, streaming or other means is not currently subject to similar statutory regulation.
Substantial amendments will be made to the existing provisions on consumer information and cancellation rights due to the transposition of Directive 2019/2161.
Changes will be made to the current unfair terms in consumer contracts legislation, to include –
- extending the scope of the unfair terms provisions;
- strengthening the transparency requirements that apply to contract terms;
- narrowing the exemption from assessment for unfairness of core contract terms, and
- expanding the ‘grey list’ of consumer contract terms presumed unfair and introducing a ‘blacklist’ of terms that are automatically unfair.
Various amendments will be made to the Consumer Protection Act 2007 required to update the law on unfair commercial practices as included in Directive 2019/2161. These amendments will extend and enhance the enforcement measures available to the CCPC and ComReg.
Also, on 22 March last, the Government approved the priority drafting of the Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Bill 2022. The Bill will transpose the EU Directive on Representative Actions (2020/2018) into domestic law. The Directive is due to be transposed by 25 December 2022. My Department has published the General Scheme of the Bill on its website. The primary purpose of the Bill is to permit a qualified entity to represent consumers in a representative action where a trader has infringed their consumer rights under one or more of the legislative provisions listed in the Schedule to the General Scheme.
For the first time in Irish law, a group of consumers will be able to take a civil action against a rogue trader through a Qualified Entity. A qualified entity will act as the designated representative for the consumers affected by an infringement of their consumer protection rights. Consumers will be charged a modest fee by the qualified entity to take part in their representative action. Actions can be brought on a domestic or cross-border basis. All EU consumers are protected against any rogue trader in the EU. Building on from the Consumer Rights Bill 2022, this Bill adds to consumer protection. The Bill also serves to protect the interests of traders who already abide by consumer protection legislation in that it provides additional mechanisms to tackle non-compliant traders who are, thereby, competing unfairly.
