Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 105, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(4) (a) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, where a trader supplies a service to subscribers, it is an unfair term of the contract under which the service is provided if the trader, in relation to provision of the same or substantially the same service, charges consumers who are renewing their subscription a higher fee than the trader charges consumers who are new subscribers.

(b) In paragraph (a), “subscriber” means a consumer who receives a service from a trader pursuant to a contract where, on payment of a periodic fee, the contract with the trader, under which the service is supplied, is successively renewed or rolled over, whether the fee is calculated solely by reference to a period of time or by reference to the amount of service received during that period, or by a combination of both; and “subscription” shall be construed accordingly.”.

A feature of much of the purchase of online services and goods is the auto-renew function that we obviously do not have when we physically walk into a shop, but is very much a feature in the online sphere. We believe it is not adequately regulated. There was much coverage of price walking or dual pricing in the insurance industry but it also exists with the purchase or renewal of purchase for digital goods. The amendment seeks to ensure that existing subscribers are offered the same prices as new subscribers. There should not be a penalty for loyalty and existing subscribers should be entitled to whatever pricing structure is available on renewal. As existing customers, we have all seen mobile phone companies offering a new customer a much better deal than those of us who are existing customers. We need something like what we have seen in the insurance sphere, albeit some of the details are quite different. We need a clear public message on not penalising loyal customers. We need a level playing field for existing and new customers.