Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The proposed amendment is a very wide catch all provision and could cover everything from greeting cards to petrol to electrical equipment. Even occasional items that are offered for sale by a grocery goods undertaking would be covered.

For the purpose of this Bill, the term “grocery goods” means any food or drink that is intended to be sold for human consumption and can include items such as any substance or thing sold or represented for use as food or drink for human consumption, or any substance or thing sold or represented for use as an additive, ingredient or processing aid in the preparation or production of food or drink for human consumption. It also includes intoxicating liquors, household cleaning products, garden plants, garden plant bulbs and toiletries.

Although it is clear that many relevant “grocery goods undertakings” may sell other products along with grocery goods as part of their overall offering to consumers, it is worth recalling that the inclusion of the products proposed by this amendment would mean that a new cohort of businesses such as retailers, suppliers and wholesalers could now come within the definition of “relevant grocery goods undertakings”. None of these businesses would have engaged in the public consultation process on this issue heretofore as the discussion centred on the traditional and previous definition of “grocery goods” which did not include this catch-all element. Thus, there would be an unforeseen, in their view extra, administrative burden imposed on them without any prior consultation.

The UK code does not include such a catch-all provision in the goods covered by it. Officials in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation are also not aware of such a catch-all inclusion in any other state's codes or measures. The addition of an unspecified range of products, for which there is no evidence of any problem, is neither appropriate nor proportionate. In view of this, I am not in a position to accept the proposed amendment.