Part 5, Chapter 5, Section 85 · Consumer Protection Act 2007

Contents

85Fixed payment notices for price display and product pricing offences.#

— (1) This section applies in respect of any offence under the following enactments (in this section referred to as a “relevant offence”):

(a)section 47 (respecting misleading commercial practices) or 58 (respecting price display regulations);

(b)section 22(a) or (b) of the Prices Act 1958 (respecting price display orders);

(ba)Parts 4 to 6 of the Act of 2022;

(c)Regulation 4(3), 5(5), 5A(2), 6(3) or 7(2) of the European Communities (Requirements to Indicate Product Prices) Regulations 2002 (S.I. No. 639 of 2002);

(ca)Regulation 7, 8, 13 or 14 of the European Communities (Directive 2000/31/EC) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 68 of 2003 );

(d)

(e)section 66B(2).

(2)An authorised officer who has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is committing, or has committed, a relevant offence may serve, personally or by post, the notice referred to in subsection (3) on the person.

(3)The notice (“fixed payment notice”) shall be in the prescribed form and state—

(a)that the person on whom it is served is alleged to have committed the relevant offence concerned,

(b)when and where it is alleged to have been committed,

(c)that a prosecution for it will not be instituted if, during the period of 28 days beginning on the date of the notice, the person pays the prescribed amount specified in the notice to the Agency (at the address stated in the notice) and submits the original or a copy of the fixed payment notice together with that payment, and

(d)that in default of such payment, the person will be prosecuted for the alleged relevant offence.

(4)A payment referred to in subsection(3) shall be accompanied by the original or a copy of the fixed payment notice concerned.

(5)If a fixed payment notice is served on a person—

(a)the person may make a payment in accordance with subsection (3)(c),

(b)the Agency shall receive and retain the payment (subject to subsection (7)) and issue a receipt for it,

(c)any payment received shall not be recoverable by the person who made it, and

(d)a prosecution in respect of the alleged relevant offence to which the notice relates shall not be instituted during the period specified in subsection (3)(c) or, if a payment is made in accordance with subsections (3)(c) and (4, at all.

(6)In proceedings against a person for a relevant offence it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that the person did not make payment in accordance with subsections (3)(c) and (4).

(6A)The amount of a fixed payment, being not more than €1,500, may be prescribed and different amounts may be prescribed in relation to the different relevant offences specified in subsection (1).

(7)Payments received by the Agency under this section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance directs.

Contains Revised Acts prepared by the Law Reform Commission (revisedacts.lawreform.ie): legislative text under the Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence, annotations under CC BY 4.0. Revised Acts are administrative consolidations, not authoritative.