Dormant Accounts Act, 2001

Publication of notice.

11.—(1) Where a dormant account is held at an institution and—

(a) the amount in the account is less than €100 or its equivalent in any other currency (or any other amount that is prescribed under subsection (7)),

(b) the institution has been instructed by the account holder not to correspond with or contact the account holder, or

(c) the institution has taken all reasonable steps to notify the account holder in writing in relation to the account and fails to do so,

section 10 does not apply and the institution shall publish or cause to have published a notice in 2 or more daily newspapers circulating in the State and in the Iris Oifigiúil.

(2) The notice shall be in the prescribed form or in a form to the like effect and shall contain the following information:

(a) subject to subsection (3), the name of the institution and the current address of its head office and any information regarding a change of name;

(b) that the institution holds dormant accounts;

(c) that if a transaction is not effected on a dormant account on or before 31 March next following, the moneys in the account will be transferred to the Fund without further notice to the account holder;

(d) that any interested persons should contact the relevant institution to establish if they hold such an account;

(e) that account holders are entitled, subject to this Act, to claim repayment of the moneys in dormant accounts from the institution concerned;

(f) any additional information that may be prescribed.

(3) (a) An institution which publishes, or causes to have published on its behalf, a notice under this section shall, on request, make available free of charge—

(i) details of the current address of its head office and any information regarding a change of name, and

(ii) subject to paragraph (b), any other relevant information specified in the request.

(b) Where the information referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) is otherwise made available to persons subject to a lawful charge, that information may be made available under this subsection subject to that charge.

(4) The notice shall be published—

(a) in the case of the first notice, on 30 April 2002, and

(b) in any other case, in each subsequent year, on the first week-day in October in that year.

(5) Copies of a notice published under this section shall be—

(a) permanently displayed in a prominent position at each premises in which the institution carries on business that is open to the public, and

(b) published in a prominent position—

(i) in all brochures and publicity material, in relation to dormant accounts, issued by the institution, and

(ii) in any relevant code of conduct of the institution.

(6) An institution that fails to comply with this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(7) The Minister may, by order, amend at any time the amount specified in subsection (1)(a) if the Minister—

(a) considers it appropriate to do so having regard to all the circumstances, and

(b) is satisfied that by doing so members of the public will not be prejudiced.