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31 1987

RESTRICTIVE PRACTICES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1987

PART IV

Miscellaneous

Prosecution of offences by Director.

35. —(1) A prosecution for a summary offence under the Acts or the Regulations specified in the First Schedule to this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Director.

(2) The powers of prosecution conferred on the Director by subsection (1) shall be deemed to be functions of the Director for the purposes of sections 9 and 16 of the Consumer Information Act, 1978 .

Prohibition of disclosure information.

36. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall disclose information available to him by virtue of the functions conferred on him by the Consumer Information Act, 1978 , the Act of 1980, or any of the enactments or Regulations specified in the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to—

(a) a communication made by the Director or an authorized officer in the execution of his functions under the Consumer Information Act, 1978 , the Act of 1980, or any of the enactments or Regulations specified in the First Schedule to this Act, or

(b) the disclosure of information for the purposes of legal proceedings.

(3) If any person contravenes subsection (1) he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding £800.

Impersonating an authorised officer.

37. —If any person makes a false statement, knowing it to be false, to the effect that—

(a) he is an authorised officer within the meaning of section 16 of the Consumer Information Act, 1978 , or section 23 of the Prices Act, 1958 , or section 15 of the Principal Act (as inserted by section 18 of this Act), or

(b) he has authority to act for or on behalf of the Minister or the Director or the Commission,

he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding £800.

Superannuation of Director.

38. —The Consumer Information Act, 1978 , is hereby amended by the insertion after section 9 of the following section:

“9A. (1) The Minister may, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, make a scheme or schemes for the granting of pensions, gratuities and other allowances on retirement or death to or in respect of a Director ceasing to hold office, other than a Director in respect of whom an award under the Superannuation Acts, 1934 to 1963, may be made.

(2) A scheme or schemes made under this section shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to or in respect of whom pensions, gratuities or allowances on retirement or death are payable under the scheme or schemes.

(3) The Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, may amend a scheme made by him under this section.

(4) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to or the amount of any pension, gratuity or allowance payable in pursuance of a scheme under this section, such dispute shall be submitted to the Minister for Finance.

(5) Every scheme submitted and approved of under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is approved of and if either House, within the nexttwenty-one days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling the scheme, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”.

Short weight and short measure.

39. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), any person who sells or exposes for sale or offers for sale any goods by weight, measure or number shall be guilty of an offence if the quantity of goods sold, exposed for sale or offered for sale is less than that purported to be sold, exposed for sale or offered for sale or than corresponds with the price charged on the basis of—

(i) the total price to be paid for the goods;

(ii) the stated price per number or unit of measurement, as the case may be, used to determine the total price.

(2) This section shall not apply to goods which are packed in accordance with the provisions of the Packaged Goods (Quantity Control) Act, 1980 .

(3) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £800 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

(4) An inspector may at all reasonable times enter any place or premises where he has reasonable cause to believe that any goods are sold or exposed for sale or offered for sale by weight, measure or by number and may weigh, measure, count or otherwise examine such goods for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this section.

(5) Any proceedings for a summary offence under this section may be brought and prosecuted by an inspector.

(6) In this section “an inspector” means an inspector appointed under—

(a) section 43 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1878; or

(b) section 81 (as amended by section 19 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1889) of the Weights and Measures Act, 1878.

Judicial notice of signature of Director and signature of a member of the Commission.

40 .—All courts shall take judicial notice of the signature of the Director and the signature of a member of the Commission and every document purporting to be a warrant or authority signed by the Director or signed by a member of the Commission shall be received in evidence and shall be deemed to be such warrant or authority without further proof until the contrary is shown.

Power of High Court to authorise inspection of accounts maintained by financial institutions.

41. —(1) Section 15 (as amended by section 18 of this Act and as applied by section 8 (3) of the Act of 1978) of the Principal Act and section 16 (as amended by section 30 of this Act) of the Consumer Information Act, 1978 , shall not apply to accounts maintained by a financial institution.

(2) Whenever—

(a) the Director considers it necessary for the exercise by him of any of his functions, or

(b) the Commission consider it necessary for the exercise by them of any of their functions,

to examine accounts maintained by a financial institution, the Director or the Commission, as the case may be, may apply to the High Court for an order under this section.

(3) Whenever the High Court is satisfied that it is reasonable to do so and is satisfied that the exigencies of the common good so warrant, it may make an order authorising an authorised officer—

(a) at all reasonable times to enter and inspect any premises of a financial institution where he reasonably believes that there are accounts maintained by it,

(b) to require any director of or person employed by the institution to produce to him any specified accounts maintained by it that are in the power or control of that person or director and to give to the officer any information that he may reasonably require in regard to the accounts, and

(c) to inspect and make copies of or take extracts from such accounts,

subject to such conditions (if any) as it thinks proper and specifies in the order.

(4) (a) In this section references to accounts maintained by a financial institution shall be construed as references to any accounts maintained by or for or on behalf of any person in the institution, either solely or jointly with another person or persons, or any books, documents or other records maintained by it relating to such accounts;

(b) in this section—

authorised officer” means, as may be appropriate, an authorised officer within the meaning of section 15 (6) (as amended by section 18 of this Act and applied by section 8 (3) of the Act of 1978) of the Principal Act or an authorised officer within the meaning of section 16 (as amended by section 30 of this Act) of the Consumer Information Act, 1978 ;

books” means—

(i) bankers' books within the meaning of the Bankers' Books Evidence Acts, 1879 and 1959, and

(ii) records and documents of persons referred to in section 7 (4) of the Central Bank Act, 1971 ;

director” includes any person occupying the position of director by whatever name called;

financial institution” means—

(i) a person who holds or has held a licence under section 9 of the Central Bank Act, 1971 , and

(ii) a person referred to in section 7 (4) of that Act;“records”, for the avoidance of doubt, includes records recorded and stored electronically.