Consumer watchdog reminds retailers to have clear pricing for paper bags

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Kiya.

Shane Coleman (0:08)

Conor Pope, Irish Times Consumer Affairs correspondent, good afternoon.

Conor Pope (0:12)

Good afternoon, how are you?

Shane Coleman (0:13)

I'm good, and now retailers have been reminded by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission that they have to display prices for paper bags. Tell us more.

Conor Pope (0:24)

Yeah, so the CCPC has written to retailers around the state, reminding them that they have this legal obligation when it comes to price transparency. And just as all retailers have to have the prices of the products that they sell clearly displayed, and that can be a box of cereal or a can of Coke or whatever it might be, they also now have been reminded that they have to have the price of the bags that they sell also similarly labelled. Now, this has kind of come to the fore in recent years because a lot of your listeners will remember back in 2002, when the Irish government rolled out a plastic bag levy.

It actually was probably the most popular tax I can think of because in the initial phases people didn't like having to pay 22 cents, or I think it was actually 15 cents at the time, for a bag. But they slowly got used to it and now everybody is in favour of the 22 cents plastic bag levy.

But in more recent times an awful lot of retailers have started charging for their paper bags as well. Now, that's not to be confused with the tax that the government was imposing on plastic bags. This is entirely at the discretion of the retailers to charge for these paper bags. And the difficulty is that a lot of retailers are not telling people before they buy their purchases that there is also an added 10 cents or 15 cents or 20 cents or 60 cents for the bag after the fa... And a lot of the time you might go to the till with a bundle of clothes that you've picked up in Zara or H&M or Brown Thomas. You put them on the... They run through the cash register and then they'll say, would you like a bag for 60 cents? And I think what the CCPC's letter is saying is, it has to be more clear to all consumers that the 60 cent charge applies before they make the purchases.

Shane Coleman (2:11)

Yeah, because if you buy a new jumper or a pair of jeans or something, you're not going to walk around town just holding the jumper or a pair of jeans, you're going to need the bag.

Conor Pope (2:21)

That's exactly it. And I think that's why it's important to draw a really clear distinction between grocery bags and bags for things like books or clothes or whatever it might be. Because you can make a plan to go to do your big shopping in the supermarket. So you bring all your bags for life.

An awful lot of the purchases that we're talking about, clothes, books, whatever, they're kind of impulse purchases. You might go into a shop for a look and you think, oh, I like that. Now, you're not going to spend 150 quid on a jumper, a cashmere jumper, for example, and then carry it around under your arm for the whole day. So the choice of the bag isn't really much of a choice. You kind of have to pay for the bag and you're not going to put it into a plastic bag that you have all your groceries in. So your choices, your options are limited. And yet what the CCPC is doing rightly is reminding the retailers that they have this legal obligation to display the prices in a way that consumers can see what they are before they make the purchases. Now, it's not like any consumer is going to go, oh, hang on a second, you're charging me 15 cents for the paper bag. Well, I'm not going to buy the clothes now.

But it is more a case of saying this is the law and you have to adhere to the law in all of the circumstances, not just the ones that you see fit.

Shane Coleman (3:36)

And if they don't adhere to the law, what sanctions can the CCPC take?

Conor Pope (3:43)

Well, there's a lot of different sanctions. If breaches of the law are detected, it can issue a fixed payment notice or it can issue a compliance notice or it can take a prosecution to the district court. And there have been cases in recent times when the CCPC has taken retailers to the district court over different matters. And, you know, they're doing that to send a very strong message out to all retailers that the law is the law and you have to follow the law. And if you don't follow it, there will be consequences. Now obviously, if you're talking about a big retail chain, just pick two, H&M and Zara. Like a €750 fine in the district court means nothing to them. But having their names in the papers associated with a breach does mean something. And I think that's why the CCP is writing the letters so that they can avoid these potential breaches.