Consumer Information Act, 1978

Director of Consumer Affairs.

9.—(1) There shall stand established the office of Director of Consumer Affairs and the holder of the office shall be known as the Director of Consumer Affairs.

(2) The office of Director shall be a position in the Civil Service and no person shall be appointed to the office unless the Civil Service Commissioners, within the meaning of the Civil Service Commissioners Act, 1956 , after holding a competition under section 15 of that Act, have, under section 17 of that Act, selected him for appointment to the office.

(3) A person appointed to be the Director shall hold office for a period of five years but the Minister may, if he thinks fit, continue the appointment (including an appointment previously continued under this subsection) for such further period not exceeding five years as he considers appropriate.

(4) (a) The Director may be removed from office at any time by the Minister.

(b) If the Director is removed from office under this sub-section, the Minister shall cause to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas a statement of the reasons for the removal.

(5) The Director shall be independent in the performance of his functions.

(6) The functions of the Director shall be—

(a) to keep under general review practices or proposed practices in relation to the advertising of, and the provision to members of the public of information in relation to and descriptions of, goods, services, accommodation and facilities,

(b) to carry out examinations of any such practices or proposed practices where the Minister requests him to carry out examinations or where the Director considers that, in the public interest, such examinations are proper,

(c) to request persons engaging in or proposing to engage in such practices that are, or are likely to be, misleading to members of the public in a material matter, to discontinue or refrain from such practices,

(d) to institute proceedings in the High Court for orders requiring persons engaging or proposing to engage in such practices that are, or are likely to be, misleading to members of the public in a material matter to discontinue or refrain from such practices,

(e) to request persons engaging in or proposing to engage in such practices to make such alterations of or deletions from, or provide such definitions of, expressions that are, or are proposed to be, used in or in connection with such practices, as would, in the opinion of the Director, increase the precision of, or the amount of information contained in, the expressions, or facilitate the understanding of the expressions,

(f) to encourage and promote the establishment and adoption of codes of standards in relation to such practices,

(g) to ensure that the provisions of any legislation providing for the protection of consumers that, in his opinion, should be brought to the attention of the public are brought to the attention of the public and for this purpose to publicise those provisions in such manner and to such extent as he thinks appropriate,

(h) without prejudice to the powers or functions of any other prosecuting authority, to bring or prosecute proceedings in relation to offences under the Acts or this Act.

(7) The Minister may by order under this section confer on the Director such further functions as he considers appropriate in respect of any matters to which the Acts or this Act or any other enactment making provision for the protection of consumers relates.

(8) The Director may do all such acts or things as are necessary or expedient for the purposes of the exercise of his functions under this Act.

(9) Where proceedings are instituted by the Director pursuant to subsection (6) (d) of this section and the Director has, prior to the institution of the proceedings, made a request under subsection (6) (c) of this section to the persons concerned and the request has not been complied with, the Director may, at the discretion of the High Court, be granted an order by that Court in the appropriate terms referred to in the said subsection (6) (d) if the practices or proposed practices that are the subject of the proceedings are, or are likely to be, misleading to members of the public in a material matter.

(10) The Director may perform such of his functions as he may deem proper through or by any officer of the Minister duly authorised by the Director in that behalf.

(11) (a) Whenever it appears to the Minister that the Director is temporarily unable to discharge his duties, the Minister may appoint a person to act in place of the Director during such inability or for such shorter period as the Minister thinks proper.

(b) A person appointed under paragraph (a) of this sub-section shall have all the powers, rights and duties conferred on the Director by this Act and each reference in this Act to the Director shall be deemed to include a reference to such a person.

(12) (a) The Director shall in each year make a report to the Minister in relation to the performance of his functions in the preceding year and the Minister shall, within one year of receipt by him of the report, cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(b) The Director shall furnish to the Minister such information regarding the performance of his functions as the Minister may from time to time require.