Bannagher District Court convicts owners of Garage Forecourt shop for failing to display prices.
27 February 2007 - Ryanagh's Filling Station Limited pleaded guilty to 17 breaches of the European Communities (Requirements to Indicate Product Prices) Regulations 2002. These breaches included failing to display prices or unit prices of a number of grocery items.
The offences occurred at the Ryanagh Filling Station forecourt shop, Birr Road, Bannagher, Co. Offaly on 9 May 2006 and 13 June 2006.
Judge O' Reilly took into account the guilty plea to all counts, coupled with the fact that the company had no previous convictions and decided to convict the owners in respect of the first count only. The other breaches were taken into consideration. The Judge imposed a fine of €1,000. Costs of € 500 plus VAT and €250 in expenses was also awarded.
Commenting on the Court's decision, the Director of Consumer Affairs and Executive Chair of the National Consumer Agency, Ms. Ann Fitzgerald said, "the current legislation is in place since 2002 and numerous premises have been prosecuted for failing to display their prices over the past few years. Despite ongoing monitoring and several prosecutions, retailers continue to exploit consumers by failing to adequately display their prices. This is totally unacceptable"
The Chair of the NCA, Ms Fitzgerald, advised that the new Consumer Protection Bill will provide a range of new enforcement powers in addition to putting the NCA on a statutory footing. This Bill has passed all stages in the Seanad and is schedule to be discussed in the Dáil this week. These powers include the power to issue fixed payment fines in respect of breaches of price display legislation. Ms. Fitzgerald added "when the new legislation is enacted the NCA will maximise the usage of the various enforcement tools to deliver better protection to consumers".