RTÉ RTÉ Radio 1

With Tina Leonard

Guarantees

Have you ever gone back to a shop with a faulty product only to be told to contact the manufacturer? But if your manufacturer’s guarantee has expired, what do you do then?

Too often, consumers are confused about the difference between guarantees or warranties and their consumer rights, and in many cases retailers aren’t too quick to explain the difference either.

Tina Leonard was here to talk through guarantees, your legal rights, what the differences are and which protection you should turn to.

What is a guarantee or warranty?

We use the terms guarantee and warranty interchangeably here. But strictly speaking a guarantee is generally free and is a promise from the manufacturer or company that they will sort problems with the product within a fixed and stated time frame. A warranty is more like an insurance product that extends the protection and you pay for it. A warranty is sometimes called an extended warranty or an extended guarantee. In both cases they are legally binding.

Essentially a manufacturer wants to stand over the quality of the product they have produced. So to protect their brand, and your custom, they may provide a written guarantee. This guarantee will promise, for a fixed period of time - say a year or two, to repair or replace an item should it break.

The terms of all guarantees vary. For example, the time frame will vary but also what is covered. Some might cover a call out cost and repair in year one but charge a call out fee in year two for example. Some cover accidental damage and others don’t.

With an extended warranty that you have purchased, the time you have cover for will extend but again what is covered will vary.

Items typically covered by guarantees / warranties are cars, furniture, electronics, white goods and luggage.

Why do you need one?

You don’t actually. That’s because you have your statutory consumer rights anyway.

Your rights are quite separate to any manufacturer’s guarantee you may have and always exist whether you have a guarantee or not. So, you should view the manufacturer’s guarantee as an ‘extra’.

Under your consumer rights, if a product is faulty you are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund. The obligation to provide the remedy lies with the retailer or service provider (whoever you purchased from) and not the manufacturer.

As for time frame, the legal minimum across the EU is two years but in Ireland under our Statute of Limitations you can make a claim for a faulty product up to six years after purchase. In relation to that time frame though bear in mind the expected life span of the product and general wear and tear issues.

Knowing that you have statutory rights anyway is particularly important when in comes to handing over cash for extended warranties. Before you even consider it, check what it covers. It may cover nothing more that what you’re already legally entitled to, so why pay up?

Should you use your guarantee or consumer rights if you have a problem?

I would say that you should always invoke your legal entitlements or statutory rights first. After all, we should always make sure that our rights are honoured, no one can take these rights from you and they’re free.

In practice that means making your complaint to the shop and asking them to provide redress.

However, the guarantee may come in useful if for example, it covers accidental damage (your rights don’t) or if the shop has closed down.

Likewise, if the guarantee covers all that you need, will sort out your problem and you find it easier to deal with the manufacturer, go with it for an easier life!

The main thing is that you know that a guarantee is not all the protection you have. In fact, consumer law is your key source of protection. A guarantee or warranty is just something extra that you may use.

Typical scenarios consumers face

The shop says use your guarantee, but the guarantee has expired. It doesn’t matter; your legal rights still exist, so ask the shop to honour them. This is a typical occurrence when it comes to electrical products and white goods.

The shop says use your guarantee, but the manufacturer wants to charge a call-out fee under the guarantee’s terms. Go back to the retailer and say that you want them to provide a remedy under your consumer entitlements.

With car problems, as the costs involved can be so big, in practice manufacturer’s guarantees are mostly used. Nonetheless, the garage does have a legal obligation to you and any case you take (whether to small claims, a higher court or SIMI’s complaint process) will be against the garage and will fall under your consumer rights.

Your new mobile phone breaks inexplicably after two months. The mobile phone company says sorry, we can only provide you with a new handset within 30 days under our guarantee and that time has passed, so we’ll repair, then repair again and again… They have forgotten to tell you that you have consumer rights. The law says nothing about a replacement not being allowed after 30 days, so ask for one.

A hot topic

The issue of guarantees and warranties is a hot topic right now, so much so that it’s a discussion topic at the annual European Commission consumer conference in Brussels next month.

Part of the reason this issue is in the spotlight is because of a successful case that the Italian consumer agency took against Apple.

Basically Apple was providing a free one-year warranty with their products and then inviting customers to pay for extended warranties. Nothing wrong with that per se, but what Apple was not doing was also informing their customers that they had free consumer rights anyway.

In other words Apple was pushing information about their one-year free warranty and extended paid-for version, but not pointing out clearly that consumer law protected consumers anyway. (And their warranties for purchase aren’t cheap i.e. €79 for an iPad (two years cover) or as much as €249 for three years cover for your Mac Book).

In December 2011, Apple (Italian retail divisions) was fined €900,000 by the Italian competition authority (AMCG) essentially for providing misleading information to customers.

Apple lost their appeal last summer, there was a further fine and consumer organisations in other EU countries threatened to sue also. (Belgium’s Test-Achats filed a lawsuit just last month). Last September, EU Commissioner for Justice and European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding wrote to Ministers in all Member States referring to the Apple case as “unacceptable marketing practices” and asking that enforcement authorities ensure that the law is complied with in their country.

Apple has since changed the content on their website to show that you have 1) their free guarantee, 2) a purchased extended one should you wish and 3) your rights. Based on this, somewhat clearer information, consumers should be able to make a more informed choice.

This goes not just for Apple, but for any manufacturer and/or retailer and is especially relevant to electrical products, mobile phones and cars as they tend to come with a manufacturer’s warranty, either those provided for free or paid for.

Why is this important for consumers?

It is very positive that this issue is being highlighted and enforced as in my experience consumers are too often confused between their statutory rights on the one hand, and the protection offered under manufacturers’ warranties on the other. It is often the case that a company will stress the protection their customer has under a manufacturer’s warranty but not the customers’ statutory entitlements.

As a result many times consumers have said to me that as the one year manufacturer’s warranty was up for example, they assumed that they could not complain further about a faulty product or get any redress – this is simply not the case.

NCT tests

Last year the number of vehicles put through the NCT test breached the one million threshold, but just over 48% of them passed.

At a cost of €55 and €22 for some retests, plus any servicing or repair costs that may be required, it can be a big financial outlay.

So, are more cars failing the test now or have those numbers been consistent over the years? What are the main reasons for failing the test and what should you look out for if you need to get your car serviced.

Tina Leonard has been looking into it.

The NCT

National car testing began here in 2000 for cars of four years or older and the test was required every two years. Since the start of 2011 cars more than ten years old must be tested annually.

It costs €55 and if you cancel less than five days in advance or don’t show at all, you’ll be charged an extra €22 when you do turn up. It costs €28 for a re-test, although visual re-tests, those not requiring the use of equipment, are free of charge.

As a matter of interest the charge is higher in the UK at GB£54.85 or €63.83.

In 2010 ACTS (Applus Car Testing Service Ltd) took over the running of the tests. In 2011 their turnover increase to €49.9mill from €43.2mill in 2010, with their profit before tax increasing to €2.7mill from just under €1mill. (Bear in mind that the number of cars tested went over 1 million for the first time in 2011, and had already increased by more than 100,000 in 2011, no doubt due to the annual testing requirement for cars over ten years old).

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In the Road Safety Authority’s (RSA) most recent annual review of national car testing, which reviews 2011, they report an 85% satisfaction rate from surveyed customers and the level of complaints received as being only 0.07% of total inspections.

In addition to carrying out operational and process audits they carried out 1,564 observational audits of testing while it was taking place and scored 9.61 out of 10 over all. However, from these inspections 3.2% of inspectors were rated ‘poor’ or ‘unacceptable’ and this was due mainly to failure to notice fails. It is interesting that these poor ratings were largely due to not noticing fails, rather than too much failing, and shows the rigour of the tests imposed.

How many of our cars fail and is there consistency across the country and across the years?

In fact looking at stats back over the years the pass and fail rates have remained consistent within a small margin and the ratio is almost 50/50 between the two.

For example for texts in 2012 the overall pass rate was 48.3% and the fail rate 51.3% (the minor remaining were deemed a ‘dangerous’ fail). While in 2011 the pass rate was 50.6% and the fail rate 49% and in 2010 the pass rate was 51.7% and the fail rate 47.8%.

The rates above are for all car ages but the pass rates for newer cars as a rule are higher each year i.e. 73% for 09 reg vehicles in 2011 and 63% for 06 reg vehicles.

Looking across the 46 test centres nationwide the pass and test fails are still within around 15% of the average national figures. As a matter of interest, the highest pass rate in 2011 was recorded at the Charleville test centre (63.5%) and the highest fail rate was recorded in Clifden at 59.3%.

So, within a few percentage points, the national rates for passing and failing have remained consistent, although last year was the first where the pass rate fell just below 50%.

What are the main reasons that the cars fail?

The main reasons for failure in 2012 (in order of fail rate) were: 1. Front suspension. 2. Tyre condition. 3. Headlamp aim. 4. Brake line / hoses. 5. Stop lamps. These are the top five that figure consistently through the years as the main fail reasons, with front suspension consistently featuring as the top problem.

Knowing these are the problems, do people get a service before the test or use the test for diagnostic purposes?

Anecdotally we know that many people use the NCT for diagnostic purposes and then go to the garage with a list of items they need repaired before their retest.

However, the advice from a safety perspective is always to stick with your car servicing schedule and to keep on top of maintenance checks irrespective of when the next NCT test is due.

Plus, it is a false economy to put off checks and services which may uncover minor work needed, as more serious work required later could end up costing you a lot more. Mind you if you don’t have the spare cash this week or this month for servicing, that may be easier said than done.

Most likely it is for these economic reasons that many are not keeping up with their servicing schedule. For example, in a recent AA survey of over 15,000 people, 54% regularly spotted broken tail lights; 51% regularly spotted broken head lamps; and 42% regularly spotted visibly damaged vehicles.

This could have contributed to the minor fall in pass rates at the NCT since 2010.

What to look out for when getting your car serviced.

The cost of a service can be from €85 to €200, depending of course on the type of service and what exactly you are getting so the key thing is to ask exactly what you are getting?

Bear in mind that if you’re going for a pre-NCT test (you can get one for as little as €40), no garage in Ireland can guarantee this will ensure you pass the NCT test. So, you still may fail and have to pay for further service. It’s a gamble though, and the choice is yours.

An independent garage can provide exactly the same mechanical expertise as a branded garage but is usually cheaper for servicing. But, make sure you know and trust the garage and always get a receipt so you have proof of purchase.

If you need specific work done, make sure you are clear about what you are getting and that the garage doesn’t carry out any repairs not originally discussed without your further agreement.

If you need to buy parts for your car, remember that generic parts (Original Equipment Manufacture/OEM parts) are the same parts but cheaper than the branded versions.

If you need to be make a complaint, do so to the garage first. If that doesn’t resolve things you may have recourse to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) complaints service (for SIMI members) and you can use the small claims system for claims up to €2,000. There is also a complaints process for the NCT service.

With Tina Leaonard

Food Labelling

With the discovery of trace elements of horse DNA in some of our supermarket burgers, there has been a focus on what information should be on the label and what information consumers should be given before they make their decision to buy a food product.

Current food labelling legislation needs to improve and although new legislation is on way, it’s still almost two years’ off.

So, just what should be on the label of a food product, what changes are on the cards and are some supermarkets ahead of the law in terms of giving consumers the information they want?

Tina Leonard was here to explain.

What must appear on packaging under labelling legislation?

Name under which the product is sold *List of ingredientsQuantity of certain ingredientsNet quantity * Date of minimum durability *Any special storage instructions or conditions of useName or business name and address of the manufacturer or packager, or of a seller within the European UnionPlace of origin of the foodstuff if its absence might mislead the consumer to a material degreeInstructions for use where necessaryBeverages with more than 1.2% alcohol by volume must declare their actual alcoholic strength *

These details must appear in the same field of vision

What has to be in the list of ingredients?

The short answer to this is, everything. That is every ingredient that is used to make the product, no matter how small, even if it is less than 1% for example.

In the case of the burgers containing trace elements of horse DNA, if this was a knowingly added ingredient and part of what went into making the product, then legally it would have to be listed.

What about where the food comes from? If we say produced in Ireland on a label, what does that actually mean?

You might have noticed from the list above relating to what must appear on the label, that it didn’t say a country of origin for all products has to be shown. And that’s because it doesn’t have to.

In fact it is only compulsory in two instances: firstly for certain specified foodstuffs and secondly where to not do so would be misleading.

So what are these specified foodstuffs?

Specified foodstuffs

Here are the specified foodstuffs that must include a country of origin:

Raw beef and vealRaw poultry meat from a third country (i.e. non EU)Fruit and vegetablesHoney

Labels on these products must follow certain rules. For example the beef has to be born, raised and slaughtered in the country named and fruit and vegetables have to be grown in the country.

The list includes raw meat, what about processed meat?

But look at the list again; it covers only some raw meat and poultry. And that means that ready meals are excluded.

So, lets take the example of a chicken dinner. The chicken could be imported from anywhere and then made into a chicken Kiev or chicken meal in Ireland. The chicken is no longer raw so even if it is from a third country (i.e. non EU), the country of origin rule no longer applies.

Having been made into a meal, it has now undergone what’s called “substantive transformation”. An amount of production has taken place here so while it’s not obligatory, the label can now read “product of Ireland’, even though you have no idea where the chicken was reared.

So are there any plans to change these rules?

New labelling rules will come into force across the EU from 13th December next year. This new EU Regulation replaces previous separate Directives on labelling, presentation, advertising and also nutritional labeling.

The new rules extend the list of foods for which country of origin labelling is mandatory to raw meat from pigs, sheep, goats and poultry.

And the current rule where country of origin labelling applies if without it consumers could be mislead will still apply.

What about if a product contains the name of a place of origin…parma ham for example…or Clonakilty black pudding. Must the product come from there?

This is the other scenario where a country or origin must currently be indicated: let’s say a product includes in its name a place name, like Clonakilty pudding or Parma ham. We all assume from the name that the product is from Clonakilty or Parma and so the product must be.

Under the new rules to come there will be a new aspect to this. If origin is declared i.e. Irish marmalade or Irish beef pie then at least 50% of the product must be Irish and a separate country of origin if different must be declared.

However, this will be a voluntary rule, so will only apply if the producer decides to name origin in the first instance.

And, in fact we don’t yet know exactly how the new country of origin rules will apply. That’s because the implementation rules won’t be ready until December this year and various assessments are currently underway related to this. For example, it isn’t even finally decided if the origin rule should be per country, per Member State or simply be ‘made in the EU’.

Supermarkets ahead of the law

However, it should be noted that some supermarkets do indicate origin on some of their own brand foods above and beyond legal requirements. You can see this on raw poultry for example and on some processed foods. This is positive to see and is an indication that often the producers and retailers can and do move faster to respond to their consumers’ needs.

For example, recently I checked chicken jalfrezi ready meals and on the M&S packaging it stated that the product was produced in the UK with chicken coming from “M&S assured farms in the Netherlands”. On the packaging of a Tesco chicken jalfrezi meal it stated that it was “produced in the UK, using chicken from Thailand”.

This level of information is not currently legally required, nor will it be required under the new rules.

What about nutrition labelling? Are products obliged to show things like calories, fat levels etc?

It is not compulsory at the moment for all products to include nutritional information. It is only compulsory if a nutritional claim is made on the label, i.e. high in fibre, low in fat etc. Then the label must comply with Regulations and include: energy value; nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, sodium and components on them, certain vitamins and minerals if present in significant amounts.

New nutritional rules on health claims

From 13th December last year new EU rules on nutritional health claims came into force.

These might relate to: growth, development and functions of the body; refer to psychological and behavioural functions or to slimming or weight-control. Or you could have ‘risk reduction’ claims such as “plant stanol esters have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol” or claims relating to childrens’ development such as “vitamin D is needed for the normal growth and development of bone in children”.

The new rules update their definitions of what can be called low fat or low sugar for example and give precise quantities that must be present in order to make those claims. For example a claim that a food is low in fat can only be made where the product contains no more than 3 g of fat per 100 g for solids or 1,5 g of fat per 100 ml for liquids (1,8 g of fat per 100 ml for semi-skimmed milk).

Also, a claim stating that sugars have not been added to a food, can only be made where the product does not contain any added sweeteners. If sugars are naturally present in the food, the following indication should also appear on the label: ‘CONTAINS NATURALLY OCCURRING SUGARS’ and this is an important differential for fruit juices for example.

How are consumers supposed to know all this?

There is no way that anyone will know by heart that low fat now has to mean no more than 3g of fat per 100g of solids or that health claims are carefully controlled.

The take home information that consumers get is whatever is indicated on the packaging. You do see clear nutritional information on most products. This is voluntary on the part of the producer / retailer and is a clear response to what consumers want i.e. clear information.

Any plans to make it compulsory?

But under the new labelling laws to come nutritional labelling will be mandatory for ALL products, and not just those that make a health claim as is the case currently. In addition the nutrient value list will change order pushing fat and calorie content to the top.

But the bad news is that this part of the law won’t be in force until December 2016!

But with so much information now on packages isn’t it often too opaque and too difficult?

It certainly can be. The idea of using a traffic light system as a clear ‘at a glance’ indication of levels of sugar, fat, salt calories etc was put forward but eventually dismissed, in part due to lobbying from food industry and retailers and also from various Member States who have their own country-wide systems that their consumers have grown used to and trust. (As a matter of interest the Irish stance was to seek a harmonised approach).

However, in what can only be described as an ‘about turn’, in the UK last October the government there secured agreement from food producers and retailers that they would use a consistent front-of-pack traffic light nutrition labeling system (it will be a hybrid system combining colour coding, the daily guideline amounts and ‘high, medium or low’ wording).

This is a voluntary national agreement and allowed under current and new EU nutrition labeling rules.

This is due to start by summer this year, and we are likely to see the impact here, from Tesco, Aldi and Lidl. M&S already use their own traffic-light system on front of packs, but the design may change to be consistent with the others. It will be very interesting to see what impact this has on non-UK food retailers and their products here.

The confusion about leather sofas

You’ve saved for a new sofa or three-piece suite and are hankering after leather; a by word for quality and luxury.

But after just a few months, your leather sofa starts to peel and fray. The bad news is that chances are your leather sofa isn’t leather at all.

Problems such as this represent the most frequent cases in many small claims offices around the country.

So, why isn’t it clear if the sofa is leather or not? What labeling rules are in place? And what are the right questions to ask so that you know exactly what you are getting.

Tina Leonard was here to explain.

You may not have guessed that cases about leather sofas and leather suites of furniture were as frequent as they are in the small claims procedure. So the question is why are there so many?

The answer is that too often people buy sofas, believing them to be leather, only to find them peeling and fraying after some months of normal, wear and tear. Then they discover that their sofa is not leather at all and they seek redress.

There are three main issues why this is the case:

1. Legal labelling requirements are not sufficient. 2. Store information is not necessarily sufficient. 3. There are problems resolving complaints at shop level.

But before looking at these issues it is important to understand what sort of leather you might find on a sofa.

What type of leather might you find in your sofa?

Full grain leather is the top skin of the animal and is the best and most natural hyde.

However, bovine skins are very thick so the remaining layers underneath this top layer can be split. These ‘splits’ are still leather but do not have the same durability or quality as the top grain.

Splits are best used in the making of shoes and accessories and for making suede for example, but for upholstery purposes you could begin to see problems, especially if too many ‘splits’ have been made from the hyde as they might be too thin. You might also get a sofa that has a combination of full grain and ‘splits’, with the ‘splits’ on the less hard-wearing areas such as arms, sides and backs.

So, the next step down from full grain (in terms of quality and durability) would be a sofa made completely from ‘splits’ or from ‘bi-casts’, which is essentially a ‘split’ finished off with a coating of PVC or polyurethane.

Finally, you come to artificial leather i.e. PVC and polyurethane. While these are not necessarily the poorest quality sofas in terms of durability, this would be the biggest deception to reveal to someone if they thought they had bought a leather sofa.

So, how do you know which you are getting?

1. Labelling requirements

You may be familiar with labels saying that the sofa is ‘genuine leather’ or 100% leather. These may be from the manufacturer of leather guilds, but believe it for not this is not a legal requirement.

There are several pieces of legislation dealing with textiles and textiles labeling but leather is not a textile as per the definition of these laws as it is an animal hyde, so these rules don’t apply.

So, if the sofa is 100% textile (i.e. PVC or Polyurethane) it legally requires a label but if the sofa is covered in 100% leather it does not.
However, there is a rule where if textile is part of another product then it may have to be labeled. The rule is that if the textile consists of at least 80% by weight then the product is regarded as a textile and the labeling rules apply.

So, this means that if you have a sofa that is covered in 80% or more textile and 20% or less of leather it will have to have a label indicating this.

But if the sofa is covered in say 79% textile and 21% leather it doesn’t require a label!

2. What about the information given in store?

Quite aside from any labeling law requirements, there are other pieces of consumer legislation that require the seller to be clear and honest about the products they are selling.
For example, under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 the seller can’t mislead or be untruthful about the product and this also relates to the “composition, ingredients, components or accessories” of a product.
Plus, under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 the consumer is entitled to products that are “as described”, “fit for purpose” and “of merchantable quality”.
In other words, if you are told it’s a hard wearing, full leather sofa then that’s exactly what it should be.

3. Why are the problems resolving complaints?

By the time a complaint ends up in the small claims system, the consumer will already have tried to resolve it with the shop where they bought the product. The fact that there are so many disputes about leather sofas in the small claims system shows how difficult these problems can be to resolve.

Most usually the dispute will come down to what the customer was told in the shop; how the sofa was described to them. The consumer will often say they were told the sofa was leather, or that they assumed it to be leather. The shop often asserts that they never said the sofa was full leather. Given the difficult in proving what was said, the high cost involved and the element of consumer expectation of the product, these are obvious barriers to an easy resolution in many instances.

What you should look for if you are buying a leather sofa?

• Ask the smart questions

Ask whether it is natural grain or imitation grain? Ask if the covering is full grain leather, whether it contains different types of leather, or if it is part or wholly made from artificial leather. If the seller doesn’t know, walk away.

• Ask to see a sample swatch

A sample swatch of the leather should be available to you. Take a look at it and feel it. Put it against the sofa in store and check that the swatch you’re looking at matches all parts of the sofa, front, back and sides.

• Look at the panels

Look at the back and side panels on the sofa. If it is real grain the leather panels should be relatively small, if the panels are large the grain may not be natural.

• Consider price

Price is generally an indicator of quality when it comes to leather furniture. You can only get what you pay for. So, while let’s say €1,000 for example is a huge amount of money for most, it would be a very cheap price for a full leather suite, so bear that in mind.

“I believe that one body laid out on a slab after a robbery would put an end to robberies in the area pretty lively” – they’re the comments of Fine Gael councillor, Padraig Conneely at a meeting of the Joint Policing Committee in Galway when the issue of robberies came up for discussion. Mr Coneely who is chairman of that committee said that he needed to speak out because in his view many of his constituents are terrified in their own homes and someone needs to take a stand. Pat was joined by Padraig Conneely and by Michael O’Higgins, Senior Counsel.

Many people who are about to renew their health insurance will be shocked at the prospect of a steep increase in their annual subscription. However, the good news is we could save money by switching plans. So, to help you sift through the various deal, Dermot Goode, Industry Expert on Health Insurance joined Pat in studio.

If you have any enquiries on health insurance
Phone: 1890 252 140 or www.healthinsurancesavings.ie

Well, if you’re one of those people fortunate enough to be able to afford one of those 40 inch flatscreen TVs, I’m afraid you’ve spent your money on yesterday’s technology. That’s if the Consumer Electronics Show, which is going on in Vegas at the moment is anything to go by. 110 inch television sets, self driving cars and phablets, the show is enough to make any technophile salivate. It's by far the biggest tech show in the world, a showroom roughly 40 times the size of Croke Park

Adrian Weckler, Technology Correspondent with the Sunday Business Post, is there.

Tina Leonard, Consumer Affairs Expert.

When you’re buying something at the deli counter do you notice whether the person handling the food has their hair tied up or whether they are wearing gloves?

But if so, do you know whether they are disposing of the gloves rather than wearing the same ones to handle a mix of raw and cooked foods for example?

And what about the hygiene in the kitchen of a café or restaurant that you don’t get to see?

Well, there is a range of food safety laws that any business serving food must comply with and there are inspectors to police it.

The bad news, however, is that there was a 30% increase in food safety enforcement orders made last year.

Tina Leonard has been looking in to it.

What can go wrong?

The most usual problems uncovered are the straightforward ones that you would recognise yourself: lack of hygiene; dirt; pests; raw and cooked foods not stored properly; incorrect temperature controls and insufficient staff training.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) believes that the bigger issue if the failure of management to commit to food safety.

With cutbacks in staff and less cash-flow a reality for many food businesses, as others, cutting corners when it comes to food safety may seem an option to some. But the cost of reputational damage could be greater.

What are the numbers?

There were a total of 109 Enforcement Orders served for breaches in food safety legislation in 2012. That compares with 84 in 2011, which is an increase of 30% - making last year the highest to date for the number of Enforcement Orders issued by the FSAI.
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Between 1st January and 31st December 2012, enforcement officers served 91 Closure Orders, three Improvement Orders and 15 Prohibition Orders on food businesses throughout the country. (This compares with 66 Closure Orders, seven Improvement Orders and 11 Prohibition Orders issued in 2011.)??

How does the enforcement procedure work?

Environmental Health Officers, who are employed by the Health Services Executive (HSE), are tasked with travelling to premises that serve food to the public to check food safety. That could be a supermarket, a deli, a café, a restaurant, a take away, a canteen, a market stall or a chip van. They are checking against legislative requirements under food safety legislation.

Depending on the situation, different enforcement actions may occur:
o An Improvement Notice could be issued if the premises or practice will or is likely to pose a risk to public health, for example in the handling or preparing of food.
o If the Improvement Notice isn’t complied with, an Improvement Order can be issued by the district court. There were three of these orders issued in 2011.
o A Closure Order can be issued if there is likely to be grave and immediate danger to public health or if the premises isn’t complying with other food safety rules. Closures Orders can refer to the immediate closure of all or part of the food premises, or all or some of its activities. The Orders may be lifted when the premises has improved to the satisfaction of the authorised officer, so the premises can take as long as they want to rectify things.
Failure to comply with an Improvement Order is another reason for the issuing of a Closure Order.
There were 91 in total last year.
o A Prohibition Order could be issued if a particular product, or batch or item of food is likely to involve a serious risk to public health. This order will prohibit the sale of a particular product, either temporarily or permanently.
There were 15 prohibition orders in 2012.
Names of premises

The names and addresses of premises on whom closure orders have been served are published on the FSAI website and remain there for three months. This goes for improvement orders also, although prohibition notices remain for just one month.

This ‘naming and shaming’ is important on two levels. Firstly, it informs the consumer as to what’s going on and secondly should act as a deterrent to businesses who want to maintain a positive reputation.

Ex:
In December 2012 seven Closure Orders were served under both the FSAI Act, and EU food safety regulations to:

• Cumann Baire Setanta Teoranta, Hurling and Camogie Club (public house), Beside Library, Ballymun Road, Dublin 11?
• Kanum Thai Ltd (food stall), rear of 7 Bohernabreena Cottages, Tallaght, Dublin 24?
• Pesce Grande (take away) (closed area: the rear food preparation kitchen), Main Street, Aughrim Village, Wicklow?
• Mitsuba Limited, Premises occupied by Mitsuba Ltd (restaurant), 154 Parnell Street, Dublin 1??
• Dynasty Chinese Restaurant & Take Away, Unit 9, College View, Ballymun Town Centre, Ballymun Road, Dublin 9?
• J&V Rahara Farm Meats Ltd trading as May Kearneys (public house) (closed area: ground floor kitchen, food preparation, storage, cooking service and ancillary staff and wash up facilities - bar service areas not included in Closure Order), 10 Lifford Road Ennis, Clare?
• The Anner Hotel (activity affected by the Closure Order: ceasing use of current water supply for drinking and culinary purposes), Dublin Road, Thurles, Tipperary.??

Three things you should know

1. There is an active programme of enforcement going on. It concerns the part of food businesses that by and large you can’t see, and that’s why it’s important that inspections are carried out to ensure compliance with food safety law.

2. The FSAI is also there as a support for industry. While it’s the responsibility of the business to ensure compliance with any law, and that goes for food safety law too. One area of focus has been Chinese and African food businesses and specific training has been provided there. Also, guidelines on food safety are provided in various languages on the FSAI website.

3. If you have a concern about a food business, say you notice bad hygiene or dirt, get sick which you think is related to food from a particular premises, then contact the FSAI. (www.fsai.ie) There is a form you can fill out on their web site or you can telephone them (1890 33 66 77). Either way, an environmental health officer will call to the premises to follow up on your complaint.

Change to telephone allowance scheme

If you are aged over 66, the bill for your landline is set to rise from February. That is because the telephone allowance provided by the Department of Social Welfare is decreasing in line with last December’s budget.

If you fall into that category it means an increase to your bill of between approximately €13 and €18 per month.

Tina Leonard was here to explain exactly what the changes are and how you can negate this loss by getting a better deal either from your phone provider or by switching to another.

What is the change?

If you are aged over 66 you will receive a monthly telephone allowance. This allowance is universally applied to everyone over the age of 66.

In the December 2012 budget the government announced a reduction in the telephone allowance that is part of the Household Benefit Scheme and so the Department of Social Protection has reduced the amount given.

The allowance was €22.58 but from 1st February will be reduced to €9.50. This means that if you are over 66 the first telephone bill you receive after that date will increase by at least €13.08. (VAT inclusive).

Why do I need to know about this now?

The majority of customers who fall into this category (270,000) are with Eircom and will already have received letters (or are about to receive them) from that company as the letters are being sent in batches from December 27th last. Eircom reports many calls already about this to their customer service line and has set up a dedicated helpline for this matter.

If you are over 66 and with another provider for your landline (the minority) you may hear directly from your provider in the coming days or weeks.

But you may not. For example UPC landline customers who avail of the telephone allowance do so directly with the Department of Social Protection and UPC do not process it.

In either case the change or reduction will be automatically applied, so you don’t have to do anything.

(Note that for over 66’s without a landline but who have a mobile, they apply for this allowance directly from the Department of Social Welfare for the mobile and it is paid via welfare payments. The amount will reduce accordingly also.)

So how much exactly will I lose?

If you are a Vodafone landline customer for example, it’s straightforward. Previously a credit of €22.58 would have been added to your bill and this was the telephone allowance. In your bill from February this credit will reduce to €9.50.

However, if you are an Eircom customer you are set to lose more. This is because Eircom are currently also providing additional subsidies and these are set to end too.

Eircom

So, the government allowance of €22.58 did not cover the cost of Eircom’s line rental so Eircom added their own benefit of €3.20 to cover the extra. In addition, some customers receive an Eircom call allowance of a further €1.52 and for those customers renting handsets Eircom add a further 79c allowance.

However, these Eircom allowances will cease from 1st February along with the reduction in the government allowance. The call credit of €1.52 that Eircom added will go from 1st April as it is paid in arrears.

This all means that some Eircom customers will see these credits reduce from €28.09 down to €9.50, which means a monthly bill increase of €18.59. (With other operators as there had been no additional benefits the bill increase will be €13.08).

What you can do to negate the increase in what you pay.

Whether you are going to be paying an extra €13.08 or an extra €18.59 per month, for some customers that is a big difference and may be too much.

1.
If you are worried about the increase call your landline provider. It may be that there is a cheaper package you could be on that will cancel out the reduction in the allowance, so ask. In fact this is what most callers to Eircom who have already received the letter are currently asking. (Their dedicated number for this issue is 1800 661 622).

Before you make the call, think about how you use your phone. Do you just have it for security and only take incoming calls? Do you make calls in the evenings, at weekends or all the time? Do you call mobiles or landlines or overseas? Knowing this information will aid the customer service agent in suggesting the best package for your needs.

For example, one third of Eircom’s customers that are in receipt of the allowance are on a line rental and rate per call deal, rather than an ‘all-in’ monthly tariff. But once you’ve answered the questions above you could most likely do better on a monthly tariff or deal.

Eircom has a packge for €25 that includes all landline calls at weekends, €30 for free off-peak calls (7pm to 7am) and €40 for unlimited landline calls anytime. Note that these prices include line rental, but if you make calls outside of the deal, they will be 5c or 6c a minute and calls to mobiles would be 22c or 25c per minute if not a Meteor / eMobile mobile (they are 5c to 10c). So be careful.

Vodafone for example has a deal for €30 for off-peak calls to landlines and it includes line rental and 200 off peak minutes to Vodafone mobiles, or €37 per month for calls to landlines at any time plus 200 minutes to three vodafone mobile numbers. Remember if you call outside the deal, your bill will rise.

But there are other providers too, such as UPC, but others again that you may not even have heard about i.e. Pure Telecom, Imagine, Hive Telecom, IFA Telecom, CAN, Worldlink, so there is choice out there.

You can compare costs of landline for your needs and results from all these opertaors will appear on www.callcosts.ie (a web site run by Comreg, the Communications Regulator.

(You can check and compare costs of landline plus broadband packages on that site also, if your landline is part of a bundle).

2.
It is also worth noting that a small number of Eircom’s over 66 customers rent a handset. You can rent a cordless, corded or big buttoned phone and the cost is €2.82 per month. This comes to €33.84 per year and you can easily buy a handset outright for less than that, and that will save you plenty of money in the long run.

3.
Within the next few weeks Eircom will announce a new specific package for vulnerable customers who will really feel the impact of the allowance decrease. They are currently finalising this with the Regulator. So bear this in mind.

4.
If you don’t fall into the over 66 category, but know someone who does, perhaps someone who lives on their own and isn’t great at knowing where to look for deals, see if you can help them out with getting a better deal.