Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 4:

11. Section 3 of the Act of 1995 is amended, in subsection (2), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (e): "(e) credit granted or made available without payment of interest or any other charge, other than where such credit is granted or made available by a person who has invited, by way of advertisement, consumers to avail of such credit,".".

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that buy now, pay later, BPL, credit agreements provided to consumers through advertising, including such agreements that do not levy interest or impose any other charge on a consumer, will fall within the scope of the Consumer Credit Act and that the providers of those agreements will fall within the scope of Central Bank regulation.

A seller of goods that advertises interest- and cost-free credit already falls within the scope of the legislation but there is concern that credit providers may not. This amendment will remove any doubt on this matter. Some providers provide credit to the shop but not directly to the customer. A consumer buying a domestic appliance, bed or another product by way of a BPL arrangement deals with the shop, but the shop may not be providing the credit because a credit provider may be dealing with the shop. It is a question of ensuring the latter is captured within the legislation. That is the purpose of the amendment.