Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 145: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her plans to prosecute companies marketing food products as Irish when they have been produced in Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12628/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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2057Primary responsibility in relation to the marketing, promotion and labelling of food products lies with my colleagues the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and the Minister for Health and Children and the relevant agencies operating under their auspices and I have no direct function in relation to such matters.

Insofar as my own area of responsibility is concerned, the Consumer Protection Act 2007 includes specific provisions in relation to the provision of information to consumers in the course of commercial transactions. Specifically the Act provides that the provision of false information in relation to the geographical or commercial origin of a product and where that information would be likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make, that such a practice is a misleading commercial practice. Traders who engage in misleading commercial practices commit an offence and are liable on conviction on indictment or on summary conviction, as the case may be, to the fines and penalties provided for under the Act.

Evidence of traders engaging in misleading commercial practices should be brought to the attention of the National Consumer Agency, which is the body responsible for the enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act 2007.