National Standards Authority of Ireland Act , 1996

PART I Preliminary and General

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act, 1996.

2 Commencement.

2.—This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed by the Minister by order, either generally or with reference to a particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions.

3 Interpretation.

3.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the Act of 1961” means the Industrial Research and Standards Act, 1961;

“the Authority” means the National Standards Authority of Ireland established by section 6;

“the Companies Acts” means the Companies Act, 1963, and includes any enactment to be construed as one with that Act;

“the establishment day” means the day appointed under section 6;

“Forfás” means the body established by section 5 of the Industrial Development Act, 1993;

“functions” includes powers and duties;

“Irish Standard Specification” means a standard specification to which section 16 applies;

“mark” includes a device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, numeral or any combination thereof;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise and Employment;

“register”, save where the context otherwise requires, means a register kept by the Authority in pursuance of section 24;

“specification” includes description of any commodity, process or practice by reference to any one or more of the following, namely, nature, quality, strength, purity, composition, quantity, dimensions, weight, grade, durability, origin, age and any other characteristic;

“standard specification” means a specification declared or deemed to have been declared under section 16 to be a standard specification;

“standard mark” means a mark prescribed or deemed to have been prescribed by an order under section 20 for use in connection with a commodity, process or practice to indicate that it conforms to a particular standard specification.

(2) In this Act, a reference to a section or Schedule is to a section of, or Schedule to, this Act unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended.

(3) In this Act, a reference to a subsection or paragraph is to the subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to another provision is intended.

(4) In this Act, a reference to any other enactment is to that enactment as amended by any other enactment, including this Act.

4 Repeals.

4.—(1) Section 6 (2) (b), (c) and (d), sections 20 to 31 and section 44 of the Act of 1961 are hereby repealed.

(2) Section 35 of the Restrictive Practices (Amendment) Act, 1987, is hereby repealed.

5 Expenses.

5.—The expenses incurred in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

PART II The National Standards Authority of Ireland

6 Establishment of Authority.

6.—(1) There shall stand established, on such day as the Minister may by order appoint (“the establishment day”), a body to be known as The National Standards Authority of Ireland to carry out the functions assigned to it by this Act.

(2) The First and Second Schedules shall apply for the purposes of this section.

7 Functions.

7.—(1) The functions of the Authority shall be

(a) to encourage the use of standard specifications with a view to improving the technical processes and methods used in the industries of the State;

(b) to formulate for the Minister, in accordance with the Minister's directions, specifications for commodities, processes and practices, as the Minister may from time to time request;

(c) with the consent of the Minister, to declare under the seal of the Authority any specification so formulated to be an Irish Standard Specification for the commodity, process or practice to which it relates, and regularly to publish a list of standard specifications so declared;

(d) to make recommendations to the Minister on matters concerning standards and certification;

(e) to formulate guides, recommendations and codes of practice for processes and practices used in the manufacturing and service industries;

(f) to participate in the activities of other national, regional, European or international standards bodies having objectives or functions similar or relevant to the objectives or functions of the Authority;

(g) to perform any function, arising from the accession of Ireland to international treaties, conventions or bodies including membership of the European Union, which relates to standardisation, harmonisation, certification or inspection; so far as this does not interfere with the functions of other State agencies or bodies;

(h) to certify any commodity, process or practice as conforming with an Irish Standard Specification, or with any standard of another Member State of the European Union or with any other recognised published specification;

(i) to determine, licence and supervise the use of standard marks in relation to any commodity, process or practice on behalf of itself or of any other body;

(j) to arrange for the testing and analysis of commodities, particularly in relation to certification and approval schemes, by or on behalf of the Authority;

(k) to promote and disseminate information concerning the formulation, publication and harmonisation of standards; and

(l) to enter into agreements with bodies in other countries and, in particular, agreements relating to mutual recognition of certificates of conformity.

(2) The functions of the Authority shall not include any functions vested in Forfás by the Industrial Development Act, 1993, other than those to which section 8 relates.

8 Functions formerly exercised by Forfás.

8.—All functions set out in section 6(2)(b), (c) and (d) of the Act of 1961 which were vested in Forfás by section 9 of the Industrial Development Act, 1993 shall vest in and be exercised only by the Authority.

9 Delegation of functions.

9.—Any function exercised by the Authority may, without prejudice to its general responsibilities under this Act, be performed through or by its Chief Executive Officer or any other member of staff duly authorised in that behalf.

10 Consultation by the Authority.

10.—(1) The Authority may consult with such authorities, persons or bodies, as it thinks proper, to perform its functions under this Act.

(2) The Authority may from time to time appoint, for such period and subject to such terms of reference, such and so many consultative committees as it considers proper to advise and assist it on the technical contents of standards.

(3) Membership of a consultative committee may include persons who are not members of the Authority or its staff.

(4) The chairpersons and other members of consultative committees may receive such remuneration and expenses as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, shall determine.

(5) The Authority may at any time terminate the membership of all or any of the members of consultative committees.

11 Grants to Authority.

11.—(1) The Minister may in each financial year, after consultation with the Authority in relation to its proposed work programme, make grants of such amounts as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas towards the expenditure incurred by the Authority in the performance of its functions.

(2) In determining the amount of any such grant to be paid in any financial year, the Minister shall give due consideration to the income and expenditure of the Authority, and for that purpose the Board shall furnish to the Minister as and when requested information regarding such income and expenditure.

12 Power to charge fees.

12.—(1) The Authority shall have power to charge, receive and recover fees for researches, tests, investigations and analyses undertaken by the Authority on behalf of any person other than the Minister.

(2) The Authority may levy interest in respect of money due to it under subsection (1) but which has not been paid from a date on which such money became due.

13 Acceptance of gifts by Authority.

13.—(1) The Authority may accept gifts of money, land or other property, upon such trusts or conditions, if any, as may be specified by the person making the gift.

(2) The Authority shall not accept any gift if the conditions attached by the donor to the acceptance thereof are inconsistent with the functions of the Authority.

(3) The Authority shall publish in its annual report details of all gifts accepted by it during the period of the report.

14 Borrowing by Authority.

14.—The Authority may, for the purposes of the performance of its functions, borrow money, but shall not do so without the consent of the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance.

15 Power to establish companies.

15.—(1) The Authority shall have the power to establish companies, both inside and outside the State, for the purpose of providing services in relation to standards and certification.

(2) The establishment by the Authority of such companies shall be subject to the consent of the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance.

(3) The Chief Executive Officer and staff of any subsidiary company established by the Authority shall hold office on terms and conditions, including remuneration, no less stringent than those applying to the Authority itself.

(4) The remuneration and expenses of the chairpersons and other members of any subsidiary companies established by the Authority shall be such as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, shall determine.

(5) The borrowing powers (if any) of any subsidiary companies established by the Authority shall be subject to the consent of the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance.

PART III Standard Specifications and Standard Marks

16 Standard specifications.

16.—(1) The Authority shall formulate for the Minister specifications for such commodities, processes and practices as the Minister may from time to time request.

(2) In formulating specifications under subsection (1) the Authority shall comply with the directions of the Minister.

(3) The Authority, on formulating a specification, may, with the consent of the Minister, declare it to be a standard specification for the commodity, process or practice to which it relates.

(4) Where, under any other enactment, any Minister of the Government is authorised to prescribe a specification or standard of quality of Irish origin for any commodity, process or practice, or to issue licences for the sale or advertisement of any commodity, the Minister shall not consent to the declaration of a standard specification in respect thereof except with the consent of that Minister.

(5) The Authority may, with the consent of the Minister, revoke or amend a standard specification.

(6) The specifications declared or deemed to have been declared by orders made under section 20 of the Act of 1961 which were in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been declared under this section.

(7) Except as provided in this Act, no person shall establish, accept, adopt, publish or place on the market in relation to a product, process or practice any document which purports, expressly or by implication, to be an Irish Standard Specification.

(8) A person who contravenes subsection (7) shall, subject to section 30 (3), be guilty of an offence.

(9) An Irish Standard Specification may (without prejudice to any other mode of citation) be cited in an Act, regulation or bye-law by the title and number given to it by the Authority and any such citation shall (unless the context otherwise requires) be deemed to include and refer to the latest Irish Standard Specification with that citation (together with any modification of it) promulgated by the Authority before the relevant Act was enacted or the relevant regulation or bye-law made.

17 Publication of notice of standard specification.

17.—The Authority shall as soon as may be after the declaration of a standard specification cause notice thereof to be published in Iris Oifigiúil and in such other manner as the Minister may direct and shall publish and place on sale copies of the standard specification.

18 Evidence of standard specification.

18.—(1) Prima facie evidence of a standard specification may be given by the production of a copy thereof purporting to be published by or on behalf of the Authority.

(2) Section 6 of the Documentary Evidence Act, 1925, shall apply to the printing, publication and tendering in evidence of documents purporting to be standard specifications as it applies to the official documents referred to in the said section 6 with the substitution, for references to the Stationery Office, of references to the Authority.

19 False representation in connection with standard specifications.

19.—(1) Every person who makes any representation which is false in any material respect that any commodity, process or practice is of standard specification shall, subject to section 30 (3), be guilty of an offence.

(2) In this section “representation” means, in relation to a commodity, process or practice, any representation, direct or indirect, and whether oral, or by conduct, or in writing, and if in writing, includes a representation in any advertisement, catalogue, bill head or other document relating to the commodity, process or practice or implied in the use of any trade mark or style.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the operation of paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 2 of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887.

20 Standard marks.

20.—(1) The Authority may, by notice published in Iris Oifigiúil, specify a standard mark or marks for use, in accordance with this Act, in connection with commodities, processes and practices generally or with any class or kind of commodity, process or practice to indicate conformity with a standard specification, with a specification under the seal of the Authority or with a specification of a body recognised by the Authority.

(2) The marks prescribed under section 24 of the Act of 1961 which were in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been specified under this section and may be withdrawn accordingly.

(3) A standard mark shall include the words “Caighdeán Éireannach” or the initials “C.É.” and may include the words “Irish Standard” or the initials “I.S.” or any other mark.

(4) The Authority may, by notice published in Iris Oifigiúil, withdraw the specification of a standard mark.

(5) Where a standard mark for use in connection with a commodity, process or practice conforming to a particular standard specification is for the time being in force, the following provisions shall have effect—

(a) the Authority shall be the proprietor of the standard mark;

(b) for the purposes of the Merchandise Marks Acts, 1887 to 1978, and the Trade Marks Act, 1996, the standard mark shall be a trade mark.

21 Grant of licence to use a standard mark.

21.—(1) The Authority may grant to a person a licence to use, subject to such conditions as may be expressed in the licence, a standard mark in connection with any commodity, process or practice for which there is a standard specification.

(2) The conditions expressed in a licence granted under this section shall include conditions that the standard mark for any commodity, process or practice shall be used only—

(a) in conjunction with the serial number assigned by the Authority to the standard specification for that commodity, process or practice, and

(b) in connection with a commodity, process or practice which conforms with that standard specification.

(3) Where it appears to the Authority—

(a) that the condition mentioned in paragraph (a) or that mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) is not complied with, or

(b) in any other case where it seems proper to the Authority so to do,

the Authority may revoke a licence granted under this section.

(4) Where a licence is revoked under subsection (3) the Authority shall inform the licensee of the revocation and of the reason therefor.

(5) Where the Minister has, with the consent of another Minister of the Government, consented to the declaration of a standard specification in relation to any commodity, process or practice, the Authority may not grant a licence under this section for the use of a standard mark in connection with that commodity, process or practice save with the consent of the Minister in agreement with that other Minister.

(6) Where the use of a standard mark on a commodity or its container would not be practicable, a licence to use that standard mark may authorise the use of the mark on business stationery or in advertisements on conditions which would prevent misunderstanding as to the commodity to which the mark relates.

(7) The use of a standard mark in connection with a commodity, process or practice which does not conform with the standard specification relating to such commodity, process or practice shall not be deemed to be an application of a false trade description to the goods for the purposes of the Merchandise Marks Acts, 1887 to 1978.

(8) A licence granted or deemed to have been granted to any person under section 25 of the Act of 1961 which was in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be a licence granted under this section.

(9) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Authority under subsection (1) or (3) may appeal to the Minister in such manner and within such time as the Minister may direct.

22 Unlawful use of standard marks.

22.—(1) Every person who—

(a) uses a standard mark without a licence to do so granted under this Act, or

(b) makes any representation or uses any mark in connection with any commodity, process or practice which suggests or is likely to suggest that a person who is not licensed to use a standard mark in connection with that commodity, process or practice is so licensed or is entitled to use a standard mark,

shall, subject to section 30 (3), be guilty of an offence.

(2) The word “representation” in subsection (1) has the same meaning as it has in section 19 (2).