Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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77. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the consumer rights that apply to gift vouchers; her plans to introduce new rules concerning the period of time for which such vouchers must remain valid; her further plans to strengthen consumer rights in this area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34294/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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87. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the Consumer Rights Bill, the general scheme of which her Department had previously published; if she is considering greater consumer protection in relation to unfair contract terms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34681/17]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the regulatory regime pertaining to the issue of expiry dates on vouchers; and the status of the Consumer Rights Bill. [34708/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 77, 87 and 89 together.

Gift vouchers supplied to consumers are subject to the provisions of general consumer protection legislation, in particular the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 on unfair, misleading and aggressive commercial practices and of the European Communities (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 27 of 1995). Gift vouchers that are not financial services products are covered also by the provisions of the European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 484 of 2013). Gift cards that come within the definition of “electronic money” in the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011 are subject to the provisions of these Regulations unless the card can be used only to acquire goods or services in the premises of the card issuer or within a limited network of service providers or for a limited range of goods and services. The issuer of a gift card which comes within the definition of electronic money must, at the request of the electronic money holder, redeem the monetary value of the electronic money at par value at any time. Redemption may be subject to a fee in specified circumstances and any such fee must be proportionate and commensurate with the costs actually incurred by the issuer of the electronic money.

My Department published the draft Scheme of a comprehensive Consumer Rights Bill for public consultation on 25 May 2015. In addition to Parts dealing with the consolidation and updating of the law on the supply of goods, digital content and services and on unfair contract terms, the draft Scheme contains a number of provisions for the regulation of gift vouchers, including a proposed ban on expiry dates in contracts for the supply of gift vouchers. The responses to the gift card provisions raised a substantial number of issues, including concerns expressed by businesses about the impact of a complete prohibition on expiry dates and the need for  clarity and certainty in respect of the regulation of gift cards that come within the scope of the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011. While the present proposal is for a ban on expiry dates for gift cards that do not come within the scope of the Electronic Money Regulations, I am willing to listen to other views and possible approaches, such as a requirement that gift cards remain valid for a set period such as five years. 

While I am anxious to progress the Scheme of the Consumer Rights Bill, I have to take account of current European Union legislative proposals for Directives on consumer contracts for the supply of digital content and consumer contracts for the online and other distance sale of goods. These proposals which were announced in May 2015 and published in December 2015 overlap very substantially with two of the main parts of the draft Scheme of the Consumer Rights Bill. Discussions on the digital content proposal at working party level have proceeded rapidly with a general approach reached at the Justice and Home Affairs Council in June 2017. The proposal will now be considered in a trilogue with the European Parliament later this year. Discussion at Council level on the second proposal on online sales has only just commenced.

In this situation, I have to consider the advisability of bringing forward a legislative proposal to the Oireachtas when a directly related and fully harmonised legislative proposal may be at an advanced stage of the European Union legislative process. The wisdom of introducing legislation in the Oireachtas in 2017, if large parts of that legislation would have to be repealed or substantially amended within a relatively short space of time, is obviously open to question. I will continue to review the progress of the two European Union proposals with a view to deciding the best course of action to take with regard to the Scheme of the Consumer Rights Bill.  

On the issue of unfair contract terms, EU legislation already exists in this area. The European Communities (Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts) (Amendment) Regulations 2013, which gave effect to the corresponding European Council Directive on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts, applies to any term in a contract concluded between a seller of goods or supplier of services and a consumer which has not been individually negotiated. While these Regulations are enforced by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, ComReg  and the Central Bank, it is ultimately a matter for the Courts to determine whether a specific term of a contract is unfair having regard to the features of the contract and the particular provisions of the Regulations.