New rules on gift voucher expiry dates come into effect from Monday
by Stephen McNeiceBusinesses will be banned from putting an expiry date of less than five years on gift vouchers from Monday.
New rules are coming into effect which will also mean shops cannot insist a voucher is spent in one transaction.
The cancellation of gift vouchers, or the imposition of charges if a recipient's name is registered incorrectly, will also be banned.
Ireland is the first European country to bring in legislation that protects consumers when it comes to using gift cards.
Business Minister Heather Humphreys explained that some airline companies used to have particular rules around the names on vouchers - but that will be addressed under the new rules.
She said: "If you got a gift voucher and the name on it was 'Liz', but your passport had Elizabeth on it... they wouldn't accept it. They'd say you'd have to pay a big fee to change it.
"That's wrong. Whoever bought the gift voucher paid cash for it, and they're entitled to get the full value for it."
Minister Humphreys said the legislation couldn't tackle 'maintenance fees' - referring to vouchers (such as One4All cards) without an expiry date, but where the provider charges a fee if the vouchers aren't used after a certain amount of time (e.g. a year).
She noted: "I wasn't able to change that legislation, as I can't pass something in Ireland that contravenes EU legislation.
"What I was able to do was write to the [European] Commissioner, and he has given me a commitment that they will look at that in any further review of the Electronic Money Directive legislation."