European Communities (Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services) Regulations 2004
Statutory Instruments
Source: Statutory Instruments

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paragraphs: (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services) Regulations 2004.
(2) These Regulations come into operation on 15 February 2005.
Object of these Regulations
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paragraphs: The object of these Regulations is to give effect to Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services and amending Council Directive 90/619/EEC and Directives 97/7/EC and 98/27/EC.
Interpretation
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paragraphs: (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“agent” includes nominee and intermediary;
“authorised officer” means a person appointed and holding office under Regulation 25;
“automated calling system” means a telephone calling system that is or can be operated without the involvement of a human intermediary;
“the Bank” means the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland;
“business” includes trade and profession;
“by electronic means” has the meaning given by Regulation 3 of the European Communities (Directive 2000/31/EC) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 68 of 2003 );
“cancellation period”, in relation to a distance contract for the supply of a financial service, means the period within which the consumer can, in accordance with Regulation 10, cancel the contract without penalty and without giving any reason;
“competent authority”, in relation to the State, means—
(a) the Bank as regards functions imposed on the Bank by or under the Central Bank Act 1942 (No. 22 of 1942), or
(b) the Director of Consumer Affairs as regards suppliers to whom Part XI of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 (No. 24 of 1995) applies;
“competent authority”, in relation to another Member State, means an authority that, in accordance with a law of that State, has responsibility for supervising the making and performance of distance contracts for the supply of financial services in that State;
“consumer”, in relation to a distance contract, or proposed distance contract, for the supply of a financial service, means a natural person who is acting otherwise than in the course of a business carried on by the person, and, if the rights and obligations of a consumer under a contract to which these Regulations apply have passed to another such person (whether by assignment or operation of law), includes that other person;
“distance contract for the supply of a financial service” means a contract under which a supplier undertakes to supply a financial service to a consumer under an organised distance sales, or service-provision, scheme operated by the supplier, who, for the purposes of the contract, makes exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to and including the time when the contract is entered into;
“the Distance Marketing Directive” means Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002;
“durable medium” means any thing in which information is stored, or that enables information to be stored, in a way that—
(a) allows future access to the information for such time as is adequate for the purposes for which the information is to be used, and
(b) enables the information to be reproduced in an unchanged form, but does not include an Internet website unless it would otherwise be a durable medium as defined in this definition;
“electronic mailing address” includes a facsimile number;
“financial service” means any service of a kind normally provided in the ordinary course of carrying on a banking business, an insurance business or a business of providing credit, personal pensions, an investment service or a payment service;
“initial service agreement” means an agreement under which continuing and recurrent transactions, and related financial transactions, are carried out on behalf of the consumer, and includes an agreement for the provision of a bank account, a credit card or portfolio management services, but does not include an extension of the agreement to transactions that are additional to, or are unrelated to, those covered by the agreement;
“insurance” includes life assurance;
“life assurance” means insurance that is governed by the European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994 (S.I. No. 360/1994);
“means of distance communication” means any means that enables persons to communicate with each other when they are not in each other's presence;
“Member State” means a Member State of the European Communities;
“payment service” includes (but is not limited to) a money transmission service, a bureau de change, and any service involving making transfers of credit, direct debits or credit or other card payments;
“permitted cancellation period” means the period within which a consumer is permitted by Regulation 11 to cancel a distance contract for the supply of a financial service;
“record” means any record of information, however compiled, recorded or stored, an includes—
(a) any book, a register and any other document containing information, and
(b) any disc, tape or other article from which information is capable of being produced in any form capable of being reproduced visually or aurally,
and also includes part of a record;
“supplier” means a person who, in the course of a business, provides one or more consumer financial services under distance contracts for supply of such services, and if the rights and obligations of a supplier under a distance contract for the supply of a financial service have passed to another person, either by assignment or operation of law, includes that other person;
“transaction”, in relation to a distance contract for the supply of a financial service, means a transaction carried out, or a service provided, in connection with the supply of a financial service under the contract, and, in particular, includes—
(a) making a deposit to, or a withdrawal from, an account with a bank or other financial institution, and
(b) making a payment by means of a credit, debit or other payment card, and
(c) a transaction carried out in accordance with a service agreement for the supply of portfolio management services.
(2) In these Regulations—