A RETAILER with stores in West Cork has pleaded guilty to breaching consumer protection law.
Quills Retail Ltd, trading as Quills Woollen Market, pleaded guilty today, May 19th, to two counts of breaching consumer protection law by attaching false labels to products.
During visits to Quills stores in Killarney and Kenmare, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) found that hooded sweatshirts with Quills-branded swing labels that said ‘Made in Ireland’ were in fact made in Pakistan.
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The CCPC officers identified instances where the original care labels showing the country of origin appeared to be tampered with, as well as examples that still had the original label showing the country of origin as Pakistan, not Ireland.
Under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, it is an offence for a trader to provide false or misleading information that could cause a consumer to make a transactional decision they would not otherwise make. This includes information relating to the geographical or commercial origin of a product.
At today’s hearing, Judge David Waters fined the retailer €500 and ordered it to pay €1,000 towards the CCPC’s costs, noting that this was a ‘deliberate attempt to deceive buyers’.
The retailer was convicted on both counts.
Quills operates several retail and gift stores, including stores in Bantry and Glengarriff, selling Irish clothing, homeware, gifts and jewellery primarily to international tourists.
Commenting on the case, CCPC chair Brian McHugh said the actions of Quills were ‘simply indefensible.’
‘This behaviour damages competition between businesses selling Irish crafts and could also impact the reputations of both Ireland and Kerry as high-quality tourist destinations,’ he added.
