Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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476. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will confirm that verbal agreements between customers and telephone companies, etc, as a result of a door-to-door call or a telephone contact, are legally binding, as the persons have not signed anything with the companies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29079/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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While the Deputy's question would appear to some degree to be seeking a broad interpretation of contract law that would in reality be dependent upon the individual terms and circumstances of the agreements in question, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, which has greater general expertise in the area of consumer rights, has provided the following information of general applicability, which I trust the Deputy will find helpful.

While Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights, which has been given effect by the European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 484 of 2013), does not affect national laws on the conclusion or validity of contracts, it requires traders to provide a range of specified information to the consumer before the latter is bound by the contract. In the case of off-premises contracts, such as those concluded in the consumer’s home, the trader must provide this information on paper or, if the consumer agrees, on another durable medium such as an e-mail. The trader must also provide the consumer with a copy of the signed contract or the confirmation of the contract on paper or, if the consumer agrees, on another durable medium. In the case of distance contracts, such as those concluded online or by telephone, the trader must provide the consumer with confirmation of the concluded contract on a durable medium within a reasonable time after the conclusion of the contract and at the latest at the time of the delivery of the goods or before performance of the service begins.