Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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95. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to improve consumer rights; and if he will consider initiatives that would foster better value for consumers at a time of rising prices through switching suppliers, greater transparency in charging structures or other initiatives. [60637/21]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Legislation is in place regarding how prices should be displayed, to ensure that the price of goods and services is clear. This includes:

- The European Communities (Requirements to Indicate Product Prices) Regulations 2002 requires that all products offered on sale to consumers must show a selling price and, where required, a unit price in euro.

- The Consumer Protection Act 2007 requires traders to be transparent and it is a criminal offence for any trader to make a false or misleading claim about goods, services and prices.

- The European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013 gives consumers strong protections when they purchase goods or services by distance or off premises contracts. It sets out the information requirements that should be provided by the trader to a consumer, including the total price of the goods or services or, where the nature of the goods or services is such that the price cannot be reasonably be calculated in advance, the manner in which the price is calculated.

As the Deputy may be aware, I will be bringing forward the Consumer Rights Bill into the Houses for enactment shortly. The Consumer Rights Bill represents the most substantial reform of consumer contract law in forty years.

Its main aims are to consolidate existing primary and secondary legislation and to address legislative gaps in the protections afforded to consumers under existing legislation. It will make consumer protection legislation easier to navigate for consumers as well as strengthening their rights and protections.

It is also intended that the Bill will contain provisions to extend consumer information requirements to contracts beyond their current scope, to include, as appropriate, visible fee schedules for services provided.

In relation to switching suppliers, this is something I want to encourage consumers to consider, so that they can obtain the best value for their needs. While it is regulated and promoted by individual sectoral regulators I believe there is value in this Department promoting this message to increase consumer awareness. Separately, under my remit, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission provides comprehensive information to assist consumers make the best financial decisions across a range of expenditures, including its Money Tools online comparison.