S.I. No. 144 of 2000

European Communities (Contracts for Time Sharing of Immovable Property-Protection of Purchasers) (Amendment) Regulations, 2000

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 ( No. 27 of 1972 ), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 October 1994¹ , hereby make the following regulations:

1.     These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Contracts for Time Sharing of Immovable Property - Protection of Purchasers) (Amendment) Regulations, 2000.

2.     In these Regulations “the Principal Regulations” means the European Communities (Contracts for Time Sharing of Immovable Property - Protection of Purchasers) Regulations, 1997 ( S.I. No. 204 of 1997 ).

3.     (1)     Regulation 2(1) of the Principal Regulations is amended -

(a)      by the substitution for the definition of “Annex” of the following definition:

“ ‘Annex’ means the Annex to the Directive, the relevant provisions of which are set out in the Schedule to these Regulations;”,

(b)      by the insertion after the definition of “contract” of the following definition:

“ ‘Directive’ means Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 October 1994¹ ;”, and

(c)       by the insertion after the definition of “immovable property” of the following definition:

“ ‘Member State’ means a Member State of the European Communities;”.

(2)     A word or expression which is used in these Regulations and which is also used in the Directive has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Directive.

4.    Regulation 6 of the Principal Regulations is amended by -

(a)       the substitution in paragraph (1) for subparagraph (c) of the following subparagraphs:

“(c)         at the purchaser's option, shall be drawn up in the language or one of the languages of the Member State in which the purchaser resides or in the language or one of the languages of the Member State of which the purchaser is a national and which is an official language of the European Community,

(d)         at the purchaser's requirement, in the case of a purchaser residing within the State, shall be drawn up in all cases in at least the English language or the Irish and English languages.”, and

(b)       the substitution for paragraph (2) of the following paragraph:

“(2)     The Vendor shall provide the purchaser with a certified translation of the contract in the language or one of the languages of the Member State in which the immovable property is situated, which shall be an official language or official languages of the European Community.”.

5.    The Principal Regulations are amended by the substitution for Regulation 10 of the following Regulation:

“10.     (1)     A vendor or a vendor's agent shall not accept any advance payment from a purchaser before the end of the period during which the purchaser may, under Regulation 7(1), withdraw from a contract.

    (2)     A vendor or a vendor's agent who contravenes paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence.”.

6.    The following Regulation is inserted after Regulation 12 of the Principal Regulations:

“12A. Where a purchaser purchases an immovable property which is situated in the territory of a Member State and the applicable law of the contract concerning that property is not in accordance with the Directive, then -

(a)    the law of the Member State transposing the Directive in whose territory the property is situated, or

(b)    failing that these Regulations,

shall apply.”.

7.    Paragraphs (10) and (11) of Regulation 15 of the Principal Regulations are deleted.

8.    The following Regulation is inserted after Regulation 15 of the Principal Regulations:

“16.  (1)   A vendor or a vendor's agent who fails to comply with Regulation 4, 5, 6 or 8 is guilty of an offence.

(2)   A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

(3)   An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted summarily by the Director.”.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations amend the original transposing Regulations entitled the European Communities (Contracts for Time Sharing of Immovable Property - Protection of Purchasers) Regulations, 1997 ( S.I. No. 204 of 1997 ). The effect of the Regulations is to ensure that the purchaser's option to obtain a timeshare contract in his/her language is copper fastened, to clearly provide that the contract is drawn up in the language where the timeshare property is situated and to introduce penalties for non-compliance with the provisions of the 1997 Regulations. The Regulations also ensure that the purchaser is not deprived of the protection afforded by the Directive if the property concerned is situated within the territory of a Member State.

Published by the Stationary Office, Dublin 2.

¹ O.J. No. L280, 29.10.94, p.83

¹ O.J. No.L280, 29.10.94, p.83