Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 73:

In page 88, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:
“Amendment of Central Bank Act 1942
79. The Central Bank Act 1942 is amended—(a) in section 2, by deleting the definition of “Agency”,
(b) in section 5A, (amended by section 14 of the Central Bank Reform Act 2010)—

(i) by substituting “the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission” for “the Agency” in each place where it occurs,
(ii) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (5):

“(5) The functions of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission referred to in subsection (4) are the following functions, namely, functions under—

(a) subsections (1), (5), (6) and (8) of section 8 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 in relation to—

(i) sections 41 to 56 (other than section 50) of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, and
(ii) the European Communities (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) Regulations 1995 and 2000,

(b) sections 33, 34 and 35 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, and
(c) sections 71, 72, 73, 75, 81, 82, 84, 86, 88 and 90 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007.”,

(iii) in subsection (6), by inserting “and the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014” after “Consumer Protection Act 2007”,
(iv) in subsection (7)(a), by substituting “under section 17 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014” for “under section 21 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007”,
(v) in subsection (8), by substituting “sections 80 and 85 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 and section 31 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014” for “sections 80, 85 and 87 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007”,
(vi) in subsection (9), by inserting “or the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014” after “Consumer Protection Act 2007” and by substituting “under section 17 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014” for “under section 21 of that Act”,

(c) in section 5C (inserted by section 14 of the Central Bank Reform Act 2010), by substituting the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) Subject to section 33AK, if the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is of the opinion that information obtained by the Bank pursuant to subsections (1) and (2) is relevant to the exercise of that Commission’s functions under section 8(3)(j) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, the Bank shall provide the requested information to the Commission at the Commission’s request.”,

(d) in section 33AK—

(i) in subsection (3)(a), by deleting paragraph (iva), and
(ii) in subsection (5), by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (al):

“(al) to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, if the confidential information is required for the performance of the Commission’s functions, or”,

(e) in section 61E, by deleting paragraph (d) of subsection (1),
(f) in section 61H, by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (c) of subsection (4):

“(c) the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission;”,

and
(g) in Part 1 of Schedule 2, by inserting the following item after item 42:
43No.___of 2014Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014Parts 1 and 2 (other than section 36)

This is a long amendment. It is consequent on the repeal of relevant sections of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, where the Central Bank has powers relating to consumer protection. The effect of the new section is to maintain the current position relating to the Central Bank. Both the Central Bank and Department of Finance were consulted in this matter and have indicated their agreement to this necessary amendment.