Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 107:

In page 103, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “(4) (a) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, where a trader supplies a service to subscribers, it is an unfair term of the contract under which the service is provided if the trader, in relation to provision of the same or substantially the same service, charges consumers who are renewing their subscription a higher fee than the trader charges consumers who are new subscribers.

(b) In paragraph (a)“subscriber” means a consumer who receives a service from a trader pursuant to a contract where, on payment of a periodic fee, the contract with the trader under which the service is supplied is successively renewed or rolled over, whether the fee is calculated solely by reference to a period of time or by reference to the amount of service received during that period, or by a combination of both; and “subscription” shall be construed accordingly.”.

The essence of this amendment is that it is a ban on penalising loyal customers more for renewing a subscription than the price offered to new customers. It goes back to the theme of the previous amendment, which basically buttresses the rights of consumers, which is what the legislation is about. We have seen in the past, however, the practice whereby customers of long standing find themselves at a price disadvantage relative to new customers where one seeks to attract new customers to a service, whether a digital service, an online service or whatever else that service may be. From a consumer rights point of view, it is a matter of ensuring, as I said, that loyal customers are not penalised more for renewing a subscription than the price offered to new customers.