Businesses that make false claims about their products will face fines of up to €60,000 and imprisonment under new legislation designed to protect the interests of consumers.
Under the Consumer Protection Bill, announced today by Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Micheal Martin, the National Consumer Agency will be given wide-ranging statutory powers to ensure businesses comply with their obligations to Ireland's consumers.
Labour consumer affairs spokeswoman Kathleen Lynch
The new legislation incorporates the provisions of the European Union's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive into Irish law and replaces nine existing statues - the oldest of which dates back to 1887.
Businesses that are successfully prosecuted under the new Consumer Protection Bill could face fines of up to €60,000 or imprisonment and operators of pyramid schemes will face prosecution and be liable to fines of up to €150,000 and 5 years imprisonment.
"Making false or misleading claims about a product, persistent, unwanted calling of consumers, operating prize competitions that require the consumer to make a payment or incur a loss before a prize can be claimed, are all outlawed by this legislation," Minister Martin said.
Minister Martin said the purpose of the legislation was to provide protection for the consumer but also to act as a deterrent.
"The adverse publicity of a name-and-shame policy can often be a more effective deterrent than a court imposed fine and this Bill leaves offenders no hiding place in that respect," he said.
The National Consumer Agency will advise the Government on legislation that impacts on consumers, and will interact with other regulatory bodies to promote the interests and welfare of consumers.
Welcoming the Bill, Labour spokesperson on consumer affairs Kathleen Lynch TD said: "One provision I would like to see included in this Bill is an obligation on retailers to show on each labelled product the most recent date on which the price for the particular product was increased and by how much. Every time we go in to a shop we see products labelled as 'reduced from': we should be able to see those 'increased from'."