New laws to give consumers same rights on digital as traditional products 

The new bill would give consumers a right to a refund, exchange or repair on streaming, downloads and cloud products.

New legislation will give consumers the same rights when it comes to digital content and services as they currently have for traditional products.

A new bill, to be published by the Government, would give consumers a right to a refund, exchange or repair on streaming, downloads and cloud products.

Businesses will also be required to set out clearly a description of the goods or services being provided, the total price of the item and the cost of delivery before entering into a contract with a consumer. 

Companies which engage in misleading commercial practices, such as fake reviews, could be subject to fines imposed by the courts.

The cooling off period for contracts is also being extended to 30 days in some circumstances, up from the current 14 days to cancel an online subscription.

"This legislation is the biggest overall overhaul in consumer rights legislation in many decades," said Trade Minister Leo Varadkar.

"More and more people sign up to streaming services, and download videos and music and lots of different things, and so it makes sure that consumer rights and consumer protections are extended to digital services, so that people have the right to refund or right to repair or replacement as the case may be.

"There's also new protections around data services in particular. People sign up to apps, sign up to internet services, they don't pay anything and the payment is effectively your data.

"So this now extends consumer protections around that area in particular. If you withdraw from such a service, the platform can't use the content you produced.

"So really this is a modernisation of our consumer rights legislation, and I think a big step forward in terms of protecting people in what is an increasingly digital world and online marketplace."