IrelandConsumer Rights Act 2022: Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts
Consumer Rights Act 2022 (No. 37 of 2022), Part 6, ss. 127, 129, 130, 137 and 140
In force since .
A contract terms of service (ToS) rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Contract terms
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Expect an unfair term of a consumer contract, such as a term in a website's terms of use, to be not binding on the consumer, while the rest of the contract continues to bind the parties where it can continue without the term (s. 129(1) and (3)).
- A term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the consumer (s. 130(1)).
- Do not treat a consumer contract as outside Part 6 only because a term was individually negotiated or because the consumer pays no price (s. 127(2)).
- Do not enter into a consumer contract containing, or seek to rely on, a term that an authorised body has published as declared unfair by a court order or notice (s. 140(2)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
The offence under section 140(2) is entering into a consumer contract containing a term that an authorised body has published as declared unfair, or seeking to rely on it. On summary conviction: a class A fine or imprisonment up to 12 months, or both; on conviction on indictment: a fine up to EUR 60,000 or imprisonment up to 18 months, or both (s. 142(1)).
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The authorised bodies named in section 126(1), which apply to the court for a declaration or an injunction under section 137.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a term in a website's terms of use that bars automated collection of the site's pages cause a 'significant imbalance' to the detriment of a consumer user under section 130(1)?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Part 6 makes an unfair term of a consumer contract non-binding on the consumer and lets authorised bodies seek declarations and injunctions. It imposes no duty to create, keep, produce or review a log or record.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
A consumer contract is any contract between a consumer and a trader. A consumer is an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession. A consumer contract is not excluded from Part 6 by reason only that a term has been individually negotiated between the trader and the consumer, or that the consumer does not pay a price under the contract. An unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer.
If a consumer contract is capable of continuing in existence without the unfair term, it continues to bind the parties. A term of a consumer contract is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the consumer. On an application by an authorised body, the court may declare that a term of a consumer contract is unfair and prohibit the use of that term or similar terms.
Where, after an authorised body publishes an order or notice about a term, a trader enters into a consumer contract containing that term or seeks to rely on it, the trader commits an offence. A person who commits an offence under the Act is liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or imprisonment for up to 12 months, or both, and on conviction on indictment to a fine of up to EUR 60,000 or imprisonment for up to 18 months, or both. The Act, other than section 161, came into operation on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web.
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