Committee Reports > List of Committees > Seanad > 1966 > Select Committee on Statutory Instruments > Report No. 02 - Statutory Instruments

APPENDIX II.

Hire-Purchase and Credit Sale Order, 1965 [S.I. No. 155 of 1965].

Hiring Order, 1965 [S.I. No. 156 of 1965].

An Rúnaí,

An Roinn Tionscail agus Tráchtála.

I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to state that it has been considering the following Orders:—

Hire-Purchase and Credit Sale Order, 1965 [S.I. No. 155 of 1965]

Hiring Order, 1965 [S.I. No. 156 of 1965]

It seems to the Committee that subsection (5) of section 6 of the Hire Purchase (Amendment) Act, 1960 applies in the case of each Order and that consequently it was necessary to have prior consultation with the Minister for Finance before either Order was made. Since a previous Committee made a recommendation in the matter (T. 152—Pr. 3001 of 5th May, 1955) it has been the practice to include a statement of compliance with preliminary statutory requirements of this kind in instruments where such is appropriate. The Committee notes that this has not been done in the Orders under reference.

The general purport of Article 7 of the Hiring Order, 1965 is not clear to the Committee. In particular it is not clear to it what precise meaning is intended to be given to the expressions “such other television receiving set” and “so disposed of” in sub-article (1) (b) of the Article.

The Committee is also in some doubt as to what exactly is the significance of the phrases, “otherwise acquired” and “otherwise to be acquired” which appear in Article 3 and Part II of the Second Schedule in both instruments.

It is noted that “related agreement” means for the purpose of the Hiring Order, 1965 “any other agreement made or intended to be made between the parties” in relation to the goods and “any other agreement made or to be made in relation to those goods as a condition for entering into the agreement for the hire of those goods”. The Committee has been in some difficulty in envisaging what types of agreement it is intended to cover by the definition.

The Committee wishes to be furnished with an explanatory memorandum on the foregoing points.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste.

15 Deireadh Fómhair, 1965.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste,

Seanad Éireann.

I am directed by the Minister for Industry and Commerce to refer to your minute of 15th October, 1965, regarding the Hire-Purchase and Credit Sale Order, 1965 (S.I. No. 155 of 1965) and the Hiring Order, 1965 (S.I. No. 156 of 1965) and to enclose herewith an explanatory memorandum on the matter.

16 Samhain, 1965.

Memorandum

1. These Orders were made by the Minister at the request of the Minister for Finance and by direction of the Government as one of a number of measures designed to curtail expenditure on consumer goods in order to reduce our balance of trade deficit. The main provisions embodied in the Orders were on the lines of those proposed by the Minister for Finance and approved by the Government.

2. These measures were decided on as a matter of great urgency and the drafting (by the Parliamentary Draftsman), preparation, execution, publication and bringing into effect of these Orders had to be effected within a very limited space of time. In these circumstances, and having regard to (1) above the desirability of including on the face of the Orders evidence of prior consultation with the Minister for Finance was not adverted to. This omission is regretted.

3. As regards certain provisions of the Orders—

(1) The general purport of Article 7 of the Hiring Order, 1965, is to prohibit the circumvention of the requirement to make a down-payment equivalent to twenty weeks rental by a method under which the payment was made over a period in advance by the insertion of coins in a slot meter or other device attached to another television set hired under a previous agreement, whether or not that other set was hired specifically for that purpose.

(2) The object of Part II of the Second Schedule to each Order is to prohibit any arrangement which might be devised to provide the customer with funds to help him meet the requirements relating to initial payments. Any arrangement of that kind would, of course, tend to defeat the purposes of the Orders. The most likely device under this head would be to provide money on loan, but other methods not involving the actual borrowing of money by the customer are conceivable. With the object of making the prohibition as wide as possible the expressions “otherwise acquired”, and “otherwise to be acquired” were, therefore, used by the Draftsman.

(3) As regards the definition of “related agreement” for the purpose of the Hiring Order, 1965, the main types of agreement which it is intended to cover by the definition are agreements relating to servicing, repairs, replacement parts, insurance, etc.

16 Samhain, 1965.