Tesco Ireland has been fined €600 for a breach of the Consumer Protection Act for misleading pricing of products.
The fine was issued in mid-September after the National Consumer Agency (NCA) brought a prosecution against the retailer in relation to eight alleged breaches of the Consumer Protection Act by charging higher prices for a product than that displayed.
The agency also brought a prosecution over an alleged breach of product pricing regulations.
Tesco was convicted on one of the charges of charging higher prices than that displayed with the other eight charges being taken into consideration.
The retailer was fined a total of €600. Costs of €1,500 plus Vat and expenses of €1,596 were also awarded to the NCA.
The charges related to inspection activity undertaken by authorised officers at stores in Talbot St and Phibsboro in Dublin; Coonagh Cross in Limerick; Ennis; Maynooth; Wexford Town; Carrick on Shannon; Clane and Greystones.
The NCA said the conviction would remind retailers of the importance of meeting their obligations under consumer protection law.
“The requirement on traders to ensure that products are accurately priced has never been more important than in the current economic environment and enables hard-pressed consumers to have advance knowledge of the price being charged and thereby make informed decisions regarding their purchasing,” said chief executive Ann Fitzgerald.
In the year to date, 34 fixed payment notices and 14 compliance notices have been imposed on traders across a variety of retail sectors for breaches of price display requirements.
In a statement Tesco said it was policy "to have clear prices in place at all times."
The company said it has 2.7 million price labels up every day across all its stores and pointed out that it had been convicted "for a mistake in one of these. This was as a result of human error during a time of major change in our stores. It should not have happened and we greatly regret it. Improvements have been made to our processes as a result.”
