Mr. Bill Cox:

It is not in Deputy Collins' Bill, or only insofar as that would constitute a restriction on the use of the voucher and the trader would be required to provide information about it. It is not currently in our Bill, but the Minister is open to considering other issues.

It is wrong to say there is no regulation of gift vouchers at the moment. Gift voucher contracts are subject to general consumer protection legislation and refusing to give change could be held to be an unfair commercial practice under the Consumer Protection Act and not telling people that they would not get change could be a misleading omission under the Consumer Protection Act. It could also be an unfair contract term under the unfair contract terms regulations. The Department is not responsible for enforcing that legislation, but there are information requirements for gift voucher contracts under the regulations that give effect to the consumer rights directive. There is quite a lot of legislation on gift vouchers. It is just not specific to gift vouchers and some of it could address that particular practice.

I am not sure how widespread the practice is. There have been individual instances of it brought to the Department's attention. It is something it will look at, particularly on the information side.