Retail traders failing to comply with consumer rights are being pursued with gusto by the National Consumer Agency which has just released its most recent data for prosecutions.
The total list of 96 contraventions up to the end of last year includes some local businesses under a number of categories against whom actions were taken. One trader was prosecuted for charging more for consumer goods than the price displayed while three retailers incurred on-the-spot fines for failing to display prices for consumer products. One of these received three such fines for breaches on their premises which, at €300 each, added up to €900.
This is the third annual report published by the NCA which reveals significant enforcement actions throughout 2009 which included 54 on-the-spot fines, 32 compliance orders directing traders to remedy contraventions and six prosecutions.
Other offences investigated by the Agency include:
Adulterated (‘watered down’ ) drink: Five licensed premises were visited in 2009 and samples were taken and referred to the State laboratory for analysis. Compliance notices were issued to two premises on foot of the results.
Car clocking: One car dealer was successfully prosecuted in 2009 for offering a clocked car for sale. The Agency also initiated proceedings in the Circuit Court against another car dealer (who did not comply with the terms of a previous undertaking ) and a Prohibition Order was made against the trader in early 2010.
Misleading advertising: Two website operators using ‘bait advertising’ (sensationalist advertising, such as “a car for a €1”, used to lure consumers ) agreed to remedy offending advertisements.
Chief Executive of the NCA, Ann Fitzgerald who reported that over 400 businesses had been visited by the agency in 2009 said: “By acting on information we receive through a number of channels, we target the areas where we know there is consumer detriment and use our powers to address unfair commercial practices in the most appropriate and most effective way possible to create best practice compliance standards and to ensure consumers are treated fairly.”
