Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 21:

In page 137, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following:

“(a) by the substitution of the definition “authorised officer” for the following definition:

“ ‘authorised officer’—

(a) in relation to the functions performed by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission under this Act, has the same meaning as it has in the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, and

(b) in relation to the functions performed by the Commission for Communications Regulation under this Act, has the same meaning as it has in section 39 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002;”,”.

I propose in amendment No. 21 to substitute the current definition of "authorised officer" in section 2 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007. The reason for this change is to ensure that for the purposes of the electronic communications sector, ComReg's authorised officers have the same enforcement functions under the Consumer Rights Bill as under section 39 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002.

The purpose of amendment No. 38 is to insert a new section 84A into the Consumer Protection Act 2007 to ensure ComReg can take summary proceedings for offences that relate to its functions.

Amendments Nos. 40 and 42 refer to section 171, which in turn amends section 10 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002. It is a minor technical amendment to ensure ComReg has the power to monitor and ensure compliance with certain obligations.

Amendment No. 41 is a minor technical amendment to section 10 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002. The adjustment replaces a list of sections in the Consumer Protection Act 2007 with a reference to Part 3 of the Act instead. The purpose is to guarantee that ComReg has the powers to monitor and ensure compliance with undertakings on premium rate service providers with Part 3 of the Act.

Amendment No. 43 amends section 10 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002 by inserting a new paragraph with the intention of ensuring ComReg holds a number of enforcement functions that are listed in the Consumer Protection Act 2007 in respect of Part 3 of the Consumer Rights Bill. These functions which relate to the electronic communications sector include prohibition orders, undertakings, compliance notices and fixed payment notices for price display and product pricing offences.

Amendment No. 44 is a minor typographical amendment to retitle a paragraph as a consequence of amendment No. 43. Amendment No. 45 is a minor technical amendment to ensure that ComReg has the powers in regard to section 72 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007.

Amendment No. 46 is a minor technical amendment to replace a reference to section 87 of the 2007 Act with a reference to section 88. Amendment No. 47 is a minor typographical amendment to retitle a paragraph as a consequence of amendment No. 43.

Amendment No. 48 inserts a new section 172 into the Consumer Rights Bill 2022 in order to amend section 39 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002. Its purpose is firstly, at subsection (1), to increase the number of enactments under which ComReg may appoint persons to be authorised officers and to also include the Consumer Protection Act 2007, the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 and the Consumer Rights Act 2022.

In subsection (3), which sets out the functions of authorised officers, the amendment again increases the enactments under which authorised officers may obtain any information which may be required in respect of a matter under investigation, to include the Consumer Protection Act 2007, the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 and the Consumer Rights Act 2022, as well as competition law as already provided by the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022.

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