Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

 The Consumer Protection Act 2007 - specifically sections 43, 46, 47, 55 and 56 - implements the directive on unfair commercial practices gives consumers protection from false advertising by online bloggers and influencers.

A study undertaken on behalf of the European Commission as part of the recent fitness check of EU consumer protection law concluded that the directive’s principles-based approach, combined with its blacklist of prohibited practices, had provided an effective framework for consumer protection from unfair and misleading commercial practices.

The directive was also sufficiently future-proofed and technologically neutral to allow it to address new products, media and sales methods.

A parallel review of Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights identified a need for additional information requirements for contracts concluded on online marketplaces such as eBay, Facebook and YouTube. The recently published proposal for a directive on the better enforcement and modernisation of EU consumer protection law includes a provision that places a direct obligation on online marketplaces to indicate whether a third party offering goods, services or digital content is a trader. If, as expected and supported by my Department, this provision is adopted at EU level, it will further assist in clarifying the commercial status of online influencers and countering misinformation on that status. If the Deputy has concerns that some of the practices of online influencers may not be adequately dealt with by these provisions, I would be glad to receive details of any such practice from him.  That is important; it is what public representatives should do.

The system of industry self-regulation of advertising administered by the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland also has an important role to play in protecting consumers from false and misleading advertising.  The authority's code of standards for advertising and marketing includes a number of provisions relevant to the activities of online influencers. Its complaints committee has considered a number of complaints related to these activities.

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