Minister introduces legislation to extend minimum expiry period of gift vouchers

Gift vouchers will have a minimum expiry period of five years after the introduction of new government legislation.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys is to bring in new rules around the sale and use of gift vouchers to improve consumer rights in the area.

Until now some shops have put expiry dates of as little as three months on the popular gift vouchers resulting in an estimated €70m being wasted every year when vouchers expire or are forgotten about.

These new rules, which come into effect from Monday, are designed to reverse this trend.

Under the changes, all gift vouchers will have a minimum five-year expiry period.

Consumers will also no longer be required to spend the full value of the voucher in a single transaction and retailers will not be allowed to refuse the use of two gift cards in a single transaction.

Airlines are also affected. They will no longer be able to refuse a voucher if the name on the card is different to the name on the passport of the person travelling, and they will not be able to charge customers to change the name on a voucher.

Minister Humphreys described it as a "good news day" for Irish consumers.

However, she conceded she had not been able to achieve everything she had wanted.

The Minister wanted to outlaw the practice which sees the balance of unused voucher decrease annually.

For example, An Post's One4All gift vouchers can be spent free of charges for 12 months following their purchase date. After this time, €1.45 will be deducted from the balance of the card until it reaches zero.

READ MORE

'They just caught me and pulled me away': Limerick hurling fan tells of NY arrest trauma

The Minister was advised not to ban such deductions by the Attorney General as it would contravene the European Money Directive.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, she said Ireland is the first country in Europe to bring in legislation to protect consumers when it comes to gift vouchers, and that this was a "priority" for her upon taking up the role.

She rejected the suggestion that the timing of the rules - announced on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year - was a cynical move but said that issues had to be addressed during the preparation of the legislation.

"The businesses that used these kinds of contract terms to deprive consumers of the full benefit of gift vouchers should not have been doing so, and from Monday they will no longer be able to make unfair gains at the expense of Irish consumers," the Minister said.

It is estimated that every year consumers in Ireland lose millions in unredeemed or expired vouchers.

"These measures will protect consumers and will help to ensure the value of the voucher you buy for your loved one this Christmas ends up in their pocket and not somebody else’s."

READ MORE

Minister: Creche operators were aware of fire safety regulations before now