PART VI

Miscellaneous

47. —(1) Where—

(a) unsolicited goods are sent to a person with a view to his acquiring them and are received by him, and

(b) the recipient has neither agreed to acquire nor agreed to return them,

and either—

(i) during the period of six months following the date of receipt of the goods the sender did not take possession of them and the recipient did not unreasonably refuse to permit the sender to do so, or

(ii) not less than 30 days before the expiration of that period the recipient gave notice to the sender and during the following 30 days the sender did not take possession of the goods and the recipient did not unreasonably refuse to permit the sender to do so,

then the recipient may treat the goods as if they were an unconditional gift to him and any right of the sender to the goods shall be extinguished.

(2) The notice referred to in subsection (1) shall be in writing and shall state—

(a) the recipient's name and address and the address at which the sender may take possession of the goods (if not the same) and

(b) that the goods are unsolicited.

(3) A person who, not having reasonable cause to believe there is a right to payment, in the course of any business, makes a demand for payment, or asserts a present or prospective right to payment for what he knows are unsolicited goods sent to another person with a view to his acquiring them, shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) A person who, not having reasonable cause to believe there is a right to payment in the course of any business and with a view to obtaining any payment for what he knows or ought to know are unsolicited goods—

(a) threatens to bring any legal proceedings,

(b) places or causes to be placed the name of any person on a list of defaulters or debtors or threatens to do so, or

(c) invokes or causes to be invoked any other collection procedure or threatens to do so,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) In this section—

“acquire” includes hire,

“send” includes deliver,

“sender” includes any person on whose behalf or with whose consent the goods are sent and any other person claiming through or under the sender or any such person,

“unsolicited” means, in relation to goods sent to any person, that they are sent without any prior request by him or on his behalf.

48. —(1) A person shall not be liable for any payment and shall be entitled to recover any payment made by him by way of charge for including or arranging for the inclusion in a directory of an entry relating to that person or his trade or business, unless an order or note complying with this section has been signed by him or on his behalf and, in the case of a note of agreement to the charge, a copy was supplied to him for retention before the note was signed.

(2) An order for an entry in a directory must be made by means of an order form or other stationery belonging to the person to whom, or to whose trade or business, the entry is to relate and bearing in print the name and address (or one or more of the addresses) of that person, and the note of a person's agreement to a charge must state the amount of the charge immediately above the place for signature, and

(a) must identify the directory or proposed directory and state—

(i) the proposed date of publication of the directory or of the issue in which the entry is to be included and the name and address of the person producing it,

(ii) if the directory or that issue is to be put on sale, the price at which it is to be offered for sale and the minimum number of copies which are to be available for sale, and

(iii) if the directory or that issue is to be distributed free (whether or not it is also to be put on sale) the minimum number of copies which are to be distributed and

(b) must give reasonable particulars of the entry in respect of which the charge would be payable.

(3) A person shall be guilty of an offence if he demands payment, or asserts a present or prospective right to payment, of a charge referred to in subsection (1), or takes any action in furtherance of a demand for payment, without knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the entry to which the charge relates was ordered in accordance with this section or that a proper note of agreement has been duly signed.

(4) In this section “directory” does not include the alphabetical telephone directory issued by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs.

49. —(1) For the purposes of sections 47 (3) and 48 (3), any invoice or similar document, indicating a sum of money as if it were due, shall be regarded as asserting a right to payment.

(2) The Minister may by order require that any invoice or similar document stating the amount of any payment shall bear a statement, in a prescribed manner and of a specified minimum size, that no claim is made to the payment.

(3) A person who issues an invoice or similar document which does not comply with the requirements of an order under subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence.

50. —The Minister may by order provide that, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order, in the case of a contract of sale of goods or for the hire of goods under a hire-purchase agreement or under a letting agreement to which section 38 applies or for the supply of a service of a class specified in the order entered into by a person in the course of a business elsewhere than at his place of business or in other specified circumstances, there shall be a specified period within which the customer shall be entitled to withdraw his acceptance of the contract.

51. —(1) The Minister may, by order, following such consultation as he considers necessary, require that a seller of a specified class of goods or a supplier of a specified class of service shall include such particulars as are specified in the order in any specified class of contract or in any guarantee, notice or other writing in relation to such contract.

(2) A person who contravenes an order under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

52. —(1) The Minister may by order require, in relation to any person acting in the course of a business carried on by him who makes use of a standard form of contract (being a contract for the sale of goods, a hire-purchase agreement, an agreement for the letting of goods or a contract for the supply of a service), that he shall give such notice to the public as the order may specify as to his use of such standard form and as to whether he is or is not willing to contract on any other terms.

(2) A person who contravenes an order under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

53. —(1) The Minister may by order prohibit, in relation to goods or services generally or in relation to any specified class of goods or services, any seller of such goods or supplier of such services in the course of a business from making use of any printed contract, guarantee or other specified class of document unless it is printed in type of at least such size as the order prescribes.

(2) In subsection (1) references to printing include type-writing, lithography, photography and other modes of representing or reproducing words in visible form.

(3) A person who contravenes an order under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

54. —The Minister may by order provide, in relation to goods or services of a class described in the order, that a contract (being a contract for the sale of goods, an agreement for the letting of goods, otherwise than under a hire-purchase agreement, or a contract for the supply of a service) shall, where the buyer, hirer or recipient of the service deals as consumer, be in writing and any contract of such class which is not in writing shall not be enforceable against the buyer or hirer or the recipient of the service.

55. —(1) The Director of Consumer Affairs shall have the following additional functions—

(a) to keep under general review practices or proposed practices in relation to any of the obligations imposed on persons by any provision of this Act,

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

(c) to request persons engaging in or proposing to engage in such practices as are, or are likely to be, contrary to the obligations imposed on them by any provision of this Act to discontinue or refrain from such practices.

(2) The Minister may by order confer on the Director of Consumer Affairs such further functions as he considers appropriate for the purposes of this Act.

56. —The Minister shall not make an order under section 51, 52, 53, 54 or 55, except after consultation with the Minister for Finance, where the order would affect the business authorised by a licence to carry on banking business for the time being in force under section 9 of the Central Bank Act, 1971 , or any business exempted by section 7 (4) of that Act.

57. — Sections 9 (6) (h) and 18 of the Consumer Information Act, 1978 (which relate to the prosecution of offences by the Minister, a local authority or the Director of Consumer Affairs) shall be construed as referring to summary proceedings only.