Lesson 5 Consumer Protection Act

2007
This lesson is designed to be delivered in 40 minutes. Slides can be
adjusted or amended as the teacher sees fit or feels appropriate for
the class.
Aims and Objectives
By the end of this class, students will be able to:
Identify the main elements of the Consumer Protection Act
2007
Outline the functions, activities and powers of the National
Consumer Agency
Explain, with appropriate examples, instances of misleading
claims about goods, services and prices
Explain, with appropriate examples, instances of unfair,
misleading, aggressive and specifically prohibited commercial
practices
Role-play a situation highlighting one of the above examples
Materials

Student worksheet and role play scenarios (to be photocopied

prior to class)
Lesson 5 PowerPoint

Introduction
Open Lesson 5 PowerPoint and provide an overview of the material
to be covered in the lesson (Slides 1 & 2)
Slide 3: General introduction to the Consumer Protection Act 2007.
Note to teachers: Currently, the Consumer Information Act 1978 is
on the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate syllabi. However, it
has been replaced in Irish law by the Consumer Protection Act 2007.
Students should be familiar with the current legislation. However,
when answering exam questions, it is acceptable to refer to the
Consumer Information Act 1978, until such time as a circular is
issued to update the syllabi.
Slide 4: What are the functions of the National Consumer Agency
(NCA)?
1

Note to teachers: the NCA has replaced the Office of Director of

Consumer Affairs, which was established under the 1978 Act
Slide 5: The activities that the NCA carries out on a day-to-day basis.
Slide 6: Inform the students of the powers that the NCA has to assist
it in carrying out its functions.
Slides 7 - 10: Consumers need to be protected against misleading
claims that traders may make about themselves, their goods,
services and prices. Ask students to think of examples of each of
the above, and then display the relevant examples from the Act on
each slide
Slides 11 - 15: The Consumer Protection Act 2007 brings into Irish
law EU directives regarding unfair, misleading or aggressive
commercial practices.
Note to teachers: An EU directive requires that member states of
the EU must achieve a particular result, without dictating the means
of achieving that result. Directives normally give member states a
certain amount of flexibility as to the exact rules to be adopted in
achieving the desired result, with the Directive being the minimum
requirement.
Explanations and examples of unfair, misleading, aggressive and
specifically prohibited commercial practices are given. Ask students
for any other examples they can think of.
On Slide 11, unfair practices is a catch-all provision designed to
make illegal any commercial practices that seek to get around
existing laws and also scams
On Slide 15 and the final bullet point on "Claiming the business is
closing down when it is not": an example of this was investigated by
the NCA where a shop claimed it was closing down but it was still
buying stock to sell.
Slide 16: Summary of the lesson.
Slide 17: Consolidation exercise. Students to complete the
Starburst graphic organiser on the Student Worksheet. They
must write the name of the law in the box in the centre of the star
and write the main elements of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 at
each of the points of the star.

Slide 18: Role-plays. Students to read the three scenarios in the

Role Play Scenarios handout. In pairs, they are to plan and
perform a short role play based on one of the scenarios. Each role
play should be no longer than one minute. One or two pairs of
students can be chosen to perform the role play in front of the class.
Homework assignment
Students to go to www.ConsumerConnect.ie and to research
common consumer scams that they need to be aware of. Hint: see
Guides and Tips tab on ConsumerConnect.ie website (Home >
Guides + Tips > Scams)
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Scams/
List five precautions teenagers should take if they suspect
something is a scam (see Scams & Teenagers subsection within
Scams)