Written answers
Thursday, 2 February 2017
Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Commencement of Legislation
Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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360. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the Acts or sections or other provisions of Acts, coming wholly or partly under the auspices of her Department, or for the commencement of which her Department is wholly or partly responsible, which are not in force and which require the future making of a commencement order; if, in each case, it is intended to make such an order; if so, when; the reason for the failure to make such an order to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5272/17]
Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The following is a list of Acts, or sections of Acts, for which my Department is responsible and for which commencement orders have not been made.
| Act/Section of Act that is not in force | Is Commencement order intended? | Timeframe for making commencement order | Reason commencement order has not been made to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subsections (5)(b) and (6) of section 15 of the Employment Permits (Amendment) Act 2014 | Commencement of these provisions will be subject to the outcome of pending consultations. | These provisions provide for a portion of the employment permit fee to be refunded to a person nominated by the applicant where the application is withdrawn or refused. Currently, fees are refunded to the applicant only. These provisions may commence when the necessary changes are made to the employment permits processing system to support such a policy change, subject to further consultations. | The employment permit processing system has not yet been adapted to support the refund of fees to a person other than applicant. If it is considered necessary to do so, consultation will need to take place with the relevant bodies as regards other legislation and any unintended impact of this provision, e.g. The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, as amended, etc. |
| Workplace Relations Act 2015 – Sections 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 and 70 of the Act have not been commenced to date. Sections 65 to 70 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 make provision for certain issues in relation to the dissolution of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT). | Yes | Commencement will take place once the EAT caseload is finalised. It will not be appropriate to commence these provisions until the EAT is actually being dissolved. | The functions of the EAT have, since 1 October 2015, been taken over by the new Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court under the provisions of the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The EAT is currently working through its legacy caseload with a view to being dissolved. Whilst it is anticipated that the bulk of the caseload will be finalised in 2017, the EAT is likely to continue in residual form until this point. |
| S. 98 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 | No | N/A | There is no intention to commence this section barring exceptional circumstances |
| S. 199 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 | No | N/A | There is no intention to commence this section barring exceptional circumstances |
| S. 247 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 | No | N/A | There is no intention to commence this section barring exceptional circumstances |
| Section 4(2) of Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (No. 10 of 2005) in respect of the following enactments (i.) Mines and Quarries Act 1965 (in as much as it relates to Mines), (ii.) Dangerous Substances Acts 1972 and 1979, (iii.) Safety in Industry Acts 1955 and 1980, and (iv.) Safety, Health and Welfare (Offshore Installations) Acts 1987 and 1995. | (i.) Yes (ii.) Subject to Review (iii.) Yes (iv.) Yes | (i.) Mines and Quarries Act 1965 - expected during 2017 (ii.) Dangerous Substances Acts 1972 and 1979 – subject to review (iii.) Safety in Industry Acts 1955 and 1980 – when all sector specific Regulations have been introduced (iv.) Safety, Health and Welfare (Offshore Installations) Acts 1987 and 1995 | (i.) Regulations to bring occupational safety and health for mines under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 are being settled by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (ii.) Subject to ongoing review of Dangerous Substances regime. (iii.) Regulations relating to some sectors remain to be redrafted and brought under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. (iv.) Intention to introduce Regulations under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to ensure the sector specific provisions are protected under the umbrella of the 2005 Act. |
| Dangerous Substances Act 1972 Part II of that Act, Section 7 (1) and the Schedule to that Act in so far as they refer to the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854, the Explosives Act 1875, the Customs and Inland Revenue Act 1883, the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 and the Revenue Act 1909, Section 7 (2) of that Act, and any other provision of the Dangerous Substances Act 1972, to the extent that the provision is applicable to or for the purposes of explosives within the meaning of section 9 (1) of that Act | No | There is no intention to introduce a commencement order for these sections as the responsibility for legislation on explosives rests with the Minister for Justice and Equality. | Responsibility for legislation on explosives rests with the Minister for Justice and Equality. |
| Consumer Protection Act 2007 | It is not intended that Sections 48 and 49 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 will be commenced as the Attorney General has advised that the provisions are incompatible with the maximum harmonisation nature of the Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices which was transposed into Irish law by the Consumer Protection Act 2007 | N/A | Section 48 prohibits traders, who accept payment for goods and services by different relevant methods (currently defined as cash, credit card, direct debit), from imposing additional charges by reason of customers choosing to pay for goods or services by one relevant method over another. Section 49 provides that where traders do impose additional charges by reason of the method of payment (i.e. the trader only accepts one relevant method of payment or the trader imposes the same charge in respect of all relevant methods of payment, thus falling outside the scope of Section 48) that these charges must be included in any representation of the price of the said goods or services. |
| Companies Act: Section 4(2) in so far as it relates to Regulation 6 of the European Communities (Mergers and Divisions of Companies) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No.306 of 2011), Sections 68(3), 981, 1191, 1248 Section 1325 Section 1325 | No YES No | To be issued when the relevant provisions in the Companies (Accounting) Bill 2016 are commenced. A commencement order will be required should the unregistered traded company convert to a registered company pursuant to the Companies Act 2014. | The full repeal of Regulation 6 of the European Communities (Mergers and Divisions of Companies) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 was not possible due to a difference in national law requirements on mergers concerning notice requirements and those provided for in the EU regulations on cross-border mergers. A clarifying provision is necessary – due to the fact that a criminal offence is associated - to ensure that securities issued prior to the commencement of these sections remain lawful post commencement. |
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