Guidelines for the Retail Sector on Price Promotions
Introduction
The Consumer Protection Act 2007 ("the Act") came into effect in Ireland on 1 May 2007.
The Act was a significant addition to existing consumer protection legislation which provided for the establishment of the National Consumer Agency (NCA), transposed the EU Directive on unfair commercial practices into national law and made various changes to our consumer laws.
The Act prohibits traders from engaging in practices considered to be unfair, misleading or aggressive.
It also provides a range of enforcement tools to enable the NCA to deal with alleged breaches of the legislation and requires the NCA to maintain a list of names and addresses of traders against whom enforcement actions have been taken. The NCA may publish details of this list in any form or manner it considers appropriate.
The NCA wishes to assist the retail sector to understand the provisions of the Act and therefore has prepared the following guidelines. The purpose of the guidelines is to clarify and interpret the provisions of the Act insofar as they relate to the marketing and promotion of goods.
The NCA believes that these guidelines will assist in promoting and maintaining high standards of good business behaviour that will act to the benefit of consumers and business alike.
The NCA also intends producing guidelines on a number of other areas including the Sale of Goods legislation and the marketing and promotion of services.
The guidelines have been prepared under Section 90 of the Act. Failure to adhere to them is not an offence but the guidelines may be taken into consideration in deciding whether, for example, an offence has taken place.
Consultation
The NCA carried out an extensive consultation process and the responses received have informed these guidelines.
Legal disclaimer
Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 90(5) of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, these guidelines, which have been produced in the interests of consumer welfare and protection, express the NCA's views on various commercial practices, including price discount/promotion advertising and related issues.
They must be read in conjunction with the Act and other direct rules, such as transposed EC Directives and Regulations, where relevant.
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