Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Damian McDonald:

In the GDPR example, the fine is attached to turnover. A company can be fined up to 4% of its turnover which for larger companies is a large amount. A flaw in this legislation is that it states the fixed-price fine cannot exceed €1,000. The upper limit for that must be far bigger. If retailers are fined €1,000 and they pay that, they are off the hook. It does not make any sense. There must be a much higher number than that in terms of what the office can impose as a fixed penalty.