Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 345 of 27 November 2012, the reason he believes that the National Standards Authority of Ireland has no role in the ongoing monitoring of the unit (details supplied); and the remedy available to those who purchased and installed the units. [55292/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government use NSAI Agrément as a mechanism to show compliance with the Building Regulations.

NSAI Agrément Certification is designed specifically for new building materials, products and processes that do not yet have a long history of use and for which published national standards do not yet exist. The Certification confirms that new building products, materials, techniques and equipment are safe and fit for purpose at the time of installation.

The NSAI have advised that Condition 5.1(c) of the Certificate relates to the assessment of the manufacturing processes and marking of the product in general. The manufacturing process is under continual assessment, as long as the Certificate and certification agreement remains in place; this ensures consistency of production with the conditions of the Certificate issued. The Clause does not infer that a specific unit “continues to be assessed” for its lifetime.

Part 4 Section 4.4 is a general statement about the expected lifespan of a product. It is not an absolute guarantee that all units will last 30 years; it is merely an opinion that if installed, maintained and operated correctly then the expected lifespan should be in the order of 30 years. This does not rule out the possibility that some units may malfunction in a lesser amount of time. Part 4 Section 4.4 must be read in conjunction with the remainder of the Certificate, in particular, Conditions 5.1 to 5.7.

I understand that the ongoing monitoring of the installed unit’s performance is the responsibility of the homeowner who is obliged to register the unit with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. NSAI’s monitoring of the manufacturing processes ceases with the termination/withdrawal of the Certificate.

In terms of a remedy available to those who purchased and installed the units, it is not clear if the remedies available under Consumer Protection legislation apply to the particular circumstances referred to by the Deputy. The protections outlined below, only apply to persons when acting as consumers i.e. acting for purposes unrelated to the person’s trade, business or profession.

Consumers who believe that goods which they purchased may not have been of merchantable quality or that suppliers who provided them with services did not have the necessary skills or did not provide such services with due skill, care and attention, as required by the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980, may wish to consult their legal advisors in relation to enforcing their rights under that Act.

Consumers also enjoy protections under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 which prohibits traders from engaging in unfair commercial practices where such practices would be likely to cause an appreciable impairment of the average consumer's ability to make an informed choice in relation to products offered for sale and which would also cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make. The Act also prohibits traders from engaging in misleading commercial practices and/or prescribed prohibited practices as defined by the legislation. Consumers who believe that traders may be engaging in unfair, misleading or prohibited commercial practices may wish to bring evidence of such practices to the attention of the National Consumer Agency so that it may be investigated.