Ann Graves (Dublin Fingal East, Sinn Fein)
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82. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment will he consider introducing regulations to protect consumers from unfair advertising practices on property websites, with the aim to ensure transparency and fairness in advertising costs and practices, provide equal opportunities for private sellers and estate agents to advertise on property websites, and prevent discriminatory practices that disadvantage private sellers. [36532/25]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission CCPC is the competent authority for the Platform to Business Regulation (P2B). This Regulation aims to provide a fair, transparent and predictable business environment for businesses who use platforms to conclude a contract with their consumers online. This may include property websites.

The P2B Regulation includes requirements that platforms must be clear and open about their terms and conditions. These terms should be easy to find and written in simple language. Platforms must have a system for handling complaints from business users which is easy to use, free, and quick.

The Regulation also requires platforms to ensure transparency in how business listings are ranked on the platform and to make this clear in its terms and conditions. This helps businesses know their rights and reduce the risk of unfair practices. Business users have the right to access certain data that the platform collects about their usage, which can help them make informed decisions.

The Consumer Protection Act 2007 prohibits the use of misleading commercial practices by traders in their dealings with consumers, whether in advertising or otherwise.

The Act states that a commercial practice is misleading if it includes false, misleading or deceiving information that causes the average consumer to make a transactional decision they otherwise would not have made. It is also a misleading commercial practice to withhold, omit or conceal information that the average consumer would need to make an informed decision, again causing them to make a decision they would ordinarily not have made. Similarly, it is a misleading commercial practice to provide material information in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner that it causes the average consumer to make a decision they would otherwise not have made.

Where a trader makes an invitation to purchase a product through an advertisement, it must include all material information, unless it is already apparent to the consumer in the context of the commercial practice, and the provision of the information should be transparent, timely and accurate.

If a trader engages in a misleading commercial practice such as those outlined, they may have committed an offence under the 2007 Act, and the CCPC has power to take enforcement action against such traders.