CCPC publishes 2020 Annual Report
August 9, 2021
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has today published its 2020 Annual Report. The report details the CCPC’s swift response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in demand for the CCPC’s services, particularly from consumers, as they sought information on cancelled holidays, flights, events and a range of other issues. The 2020 Annual Report also sets out how the CCPC continued to deliver against its strategic goals across a wide range of issues and sectors of the economy.
Speaking on the launch of the 2020 Annual Report, Isolde Goggin Chairperson said;
“I can say with great confidence that 2020 was a year like no other and I am very proud of how the CCPC quickly adapted and responded to the circumstances, whilst keeping our core work on track. Our 2020 Annual Report details the many achievements and outputs of the organisation, in what was a uniquely challenging year. What is less evident from the report is the effort and determination behind the scenes that led to these results. Across the whole of our organisation, our staff went above and beyond to maintain, and in many cases increase, our services to support consumers and businesses.
The flexibility and agility of our staff allowed the CCPC to deliver important outputs in 2020, including the first criminal conviction in Ireland for a business disguising their trader status while selling cars, obtaining legal commitments from Ticketmaster on outsourced ticketing, the development of guidelines on safety standards for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and non-PPE face masks for consumers, publication of our Public Liability Insurance market study and the proactive inspections which took place to ensure businesses were complying with consumer protection and product safety law.
The next few years are set to be important ones, not just from the perspective of the fallout of Brexit and the pandemic, but there are significant legislative changes ahead, which have the potential to further improve competition and consumer welfare. Currently, important competition legislation is near completion that will significantly improve the effectiveness of competition law in Ireland and bring our enforcement regime in line with the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, consumers are set to benefit from new legislation which will modernise their protections and reflect how consumers now interact with businesses. New EU product safety legislation is also currently being implemented in Ireland which will help keep consumers safe from dangerous products.
Many of these legislative changes are long awaited, and as each piece of legislation is transposed, the CCPC will contribute to its implementation and act on our increased scope and responsibilities to protect consumer interests. We will also ensure that we are ready for stronger enforcement powers, increased enforcement actions and continue to seek opportunities to make markets work better for consumers.
This is my last annual report as Chairperson of the CCPC. I would like to thank all our staff members past and present, for their dedication, their persistence and their commitment to consumers over the years. Each and every individual has made their mark on how the CCPC is today, and it has been an honour to work alongside them and lead the organisation. With the organisation’s new powers, it will continue to go from strength to strength to the benefit of consumers and the Irish economy.”
The CCPC’s 2020 Annual Report is available here
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