A retail and gift store with branches across the southwest of Ireland, selling Irish clothing, homeware, gifts and jewellery primarily to international tourists recently pleaded guilty at Killarney District Court to two counts of breaching consumer protection law.
Following consumer complaints to the CCPC helpline, CCPC officers carried out inspections in September and November 2024 to check compliance with consumer protection laws.
Quills Retail Ltd, trading as Quill’s Woollen Market, has been fined after labelling some clothing from Pakistan as ‘Made in Ireland’ in a “deliberate attempt to deceive buyers”, a judge has said.
According to the competition regulator, its officers identified instances where the original care labels showing the country of origin appeared to be tampered with, as well as examples that still had the original label showing the country of origin as Pakistan, not Ireland.
Under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, it is an offence for a trader to provide false or misleading information that could cause a consumer to make a decision they would not otherwise make. This includes information relating to the geographical or commercial origin of a product.
The Consumer Protection Act 2007 came into force on May 1st 2007. The Act provides for a comprehensive reform of consumer legislation, the most in 30 years. It provides a range of measures aimed at ensuring compliance with consumer legislation, through self-regulation and through a suite of enforcement measures.
The three main elements of the Act are:
- establishment the National Consumer Agency (NCA) on a statutory basis,
- updating and consolidating consumer legislation and repealing some old consumer laws,
- transposing the EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices(UCPD).
Under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, it is an offence for a trader to provide false or misleading information that could cause a consumer to make a transactional decision they would not otherwise make. This includes information relating to the geographical or commercial origin of a product.
Judge David Waters fined the retailer €500 and ordered it to pay €1,000 towards the CCPC’s costs, noting that this was a “…deliberate attempt to deceive buyers”. The firm pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching consumer protection law. CCPC chair Brian McHugh described the actions of Quills in this case as “simply indefensible”.
“This behaviour damages competition between businesses selling Irish crafts and could also impact the reputations of both Ireland and Kerry as high-quality tourist destinations,” he added.
NB – This is a guide for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have an issue requiring legal advice, please contact any of the team at Nolan Farrell & Goff LLP, whose numbers can be found on our website www.nfg.ie, or email info@nfg.ie.
