Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Bill offers the opportunity to bring our consumer rights legislation into the 21st century and, in so doing, make it fit for the increasingly digitised world. The vast majority of the population daily streams or downloads goods or services from the Internet or the cloud. This practice is a clear divergence from the way we lived our lives just a decade ago, or even more recently.

Through the past two years of the pandemic, we had no better example of how digital goods and services provide a major factor in consumer behaviour. As we stayed at home and avoided traditional shops, we increasingly engaged with online goods and services. I do not believe this behaviour will change in the years to come. In fact, like many, I believe it will play an ever-increasing role in consumer habits and behaviours.

As my colleague Deputy Calleary mentioned, the lengthy terms and conditions to which one must sign up when availing of a service online are often confusing and written in opaque language that is difficult for the vast majority of the population to interpret. It is important, therefore, that the legislation and consumer rights protections in the State are updated to keep up to date with such changes. Despite the changes that have taken place in recent years and entered every home in Ireland, the legislation has, to date, not been updated to reflect those changes.

The Bill represents an opportunity to provide the most radical change to our consumer rights law in several decades. By bringing digital goods and services under the same category, for all intents and purposes, as traditional goods and services, we will expand the confidence of people across Ireland when availing of digital items and strengthen the position of the consumer, which in turn benefits the entire nation. Among the rights that will be enhanced by the Bill is the right to a full refund, exchange or repair of a good or service that was not to the standard advertised, as well as appropriate upgrades to the good or services so that it will work as intended. These enhancements of consumer rights will reform how we think of and engage with digital goods. Of course, it will also provide confidence to small businesses that heretofore might not necessarily have engaged online because of the prohibitive costs of going online, but also the difficulties associated with trying to sell one's products online both when there are so many large digital retailers available and in competition with them. The confidence it instils in those small businesses' consumer base is a very important business attribute. The Bill also contains important changes to transparency practice with regard to terms and conditions as well as costs of contracts that companies offer to consumers. Importantly, it restricts the ability of a digital product provider unilaterally to change the terms of a contact, thereby once again strengthening the position of the consumer in the market.

I am encouraged that the Bill will see a crackdown on fake reviews. There are countless examples of misleading and inaccurate reviews of digital goods and services companies and websites. During the pandemic I relocated to my constituency office for several months and, while there, a local retailer informed me he had been inundated with fake reviews from Thailand. In fact, some of the reviews were in Thai and he had to use the Google translate service to figure them out. They all rated the retailer negatively, which was extremely unfair, and were very difficult to remove. I know of other instances closer to home involving digital reviews that were completely inappropriate because the reviewers had never met the individuals in question, among other things. These things have to be regulated. There has to be a process in place with these firms for the rapid removal of such reviews because they can be extremely detrimental, particularly for small businesses that are trying to trade online and compete with global companies. There are countless examples of misleading and inaccurate reviews of digital goods and services on companies' websites. As other Deputies have mentioned, some of these reviews are left by companies' representatives to bolster positive reviews left for their products. In some cases, negative reviews are left by competitor companies in respect of goods and services. These reviews are a deliberate attempt to deceive and gaslight consumers into picking one good or service provider over another. Although the vast majority of businesses do not engage in that practice, it does show complete contempt for the consumer and damages consumer confidence and the overall online trading sector. The measures under the Bill will allow ComReg and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, the ability to pursue these bad actors and tackle the culture of dishonesty, which I firmly welcome.

The Bill speaks to the ever-changing nature of society with respect to new technologies. I believe that in the years ahead we will have to update our legislation continually with regard to the myriad of technological advancements that will continue to offer people new methods of engaging with businesses, society at large, transport, the State and more. In this context, we have a duty to ensure our legislation accurately reflects the everyday encounters of citizens. In recent years, for instance, we have seen the emergence and growth of more advanced artificial intelligence, AI. I note the Minister appointed an AI ambassador this week. We have seen the ambition of companies such as Meta to develop the metaverse. These developments will continually change how people engage with goods and services on the market and in the digital space and it is important, therefore, that we work closely with our European partners in these sectors to ensure consumers are protected while active in this field.

I note with appreciation that publication of the Bill has been well received among industry stakeholders and agencies involved in the regulation of the market. That is a positive endorsement of the work of the Ministers and the Department. It is another important boost to consumer rights in Ireland, which have been strengthened in recent years, and I very much look forward to the passage of the Bill.

I wish to reiterate my experience with the CCPC, which is a fantastic agency. I am not criticising it. I wonder, however, whether the Department should consider reviewing its funding because there are times when its work on behalf of consumers can be delayed simply as a consequence of the amount of work it has. That may be an indication of a minor lack of resources or personnel appropriate to complete the jobs at hand. I do support the Bill and very much look forward to its passage.

See this speech in context