S.I. No. 225/1968:

HIRE-PURCHASE AND CREDIT SALE ORDER, 1968.

HIRE-PURCHASE AND CREDIT SALE ORDER, 1968.

I, JOHN LYNCH, Acting Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 6 of the Hire-Purchase (Amendment) Act, 1960 (No. 15 of 1960), and the Hire-Purchase (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 1968 ( S.I. No. 158 of 1968 ), hereby order as follows :

1. This Order may be cited as the Hire-Purchase and Credit Sale Order, 1968.

2. (1) The goods to which this Order applies are--

( a ) goods (whether new or secondhand) of any of the descriptions specified at reference numbers 1 to 4 of Schedule 1 hereto;

( b ) any other goods comprised in a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement with goods to which this Order applies by virtue of subparagraph (a) of this paragraph.

(2) In this Order "cash price" means, in relation to any hire-purchase or credit sale agreement in respect of any goods, the price at which the prospective hirer or buyer may, at the date of the agreement, purchase or agree to purchase the goods for cash.

(3) Any word or expression used in this Order to which a particular meaning is assigned by the Hire-Purchase Acts, 1946 and 1960, has in this Order the meaning so assigned to it.

(4) The provisions of Part II of Schedule 2 hereto shall apply for the purpose of determining whether the requirement specified in paragraph 3 of Part I of that Schedule has been complied with.

3. (1) A person shall not dispose of any goods to which this Order applies in pursuance of a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement entered into after the 5th day of November, 1968 (hereinafter called "the said date"), unless the requirements specified in Part I of Schedule 2 hereto are or have been complied with in relation to that agreement.

(2) In any proceedings for an alleged contravention of the provisions of this Article in which it is alleged that, by virtue of the provisions of Part II of Schedule 2 hereto, the requirement specified in paragraph 3 of Part I of that Schedule was not complied with, it shall, in respect of that allegation, be a defence if the defendant shall prove that at the time of the alleged offence--

( a ) he had no reasonable cause to believe that money had been borrowed or otherwise acquired or agreed to be borrowed or otherwise to be acquired for the purpose and in the circumstances mentioned in the said Part II; and

( b ) he was not a party to any agreement or arrangement under or as a result of which money could be borrowed or otherwise acquired or agreed to be borrowed or otherwise to be acquired to facilitate the making of payments of the description mentioned in the said paragraph 3.

4. A person shall not, by virtue of a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement entered into after said date, be in possession of any goods to which this Order applies unless--

( a ) that agreement complies with the requirements specified in paragraphs I and 2 of Part I of Schedule 2 hereto; and

( b ) a payment, complying at the date when the payment was made with the requirements specified in paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 2 hereto, was made by him before he entered into the first such agreement (entered into after the said date) under which he held those goods; and

( c ) that agreement provides for the payment of the balance due in respect of each description of goods comprised therein either--

(i) by approximately equal instalments at equal intervals spread over a period, commencing with the date of the first such agreement (whether entered into before, on or after the said date) under which he held those goods, not exceeding the period specified in column 3 of Schedule 1 hetherto in relation to that description of goods :

Provided that, where a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement has been varied by the lengthening or shortening of the period over which the balance due thereunder is payable, this subparagraph shall be deemed to be complied with in respect of the remainder of that period if the balance remaining at the date of the variation is payable by approximately equal instalments at equal intervals spread over the remainder of that period, or

(ii) in the case of a hire-purchase agreement, by one payment to be made within the period of three months commencing with the date of the first such agreement (whether entered into before, on or after the said date) under which he held those goods.

5. (1) A person shall not knowingly cause or permit any goods to which this Order applies, owned by him, to be in possession of another person by virtue of a hire-purchase agreement if the possession of those goods by that other person contravenes the provisions of Article 4 hereof.

(2) A person shall not knowingly cause or permit any goods to which this Order applies, owned by him immediately before he enters into a credit sale agreement, to be in possession of another person by virtue of any such agreement if the possession of those goods by that other person contravenes the provisions of Article 4 thereof.

6. (1) A person shall not knowingly cause or permit another person to be in possession of any goods to which this Order applies in anticipation of the making of a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement in respect of those or other goods to which this Order applies unless, within 14 days of those goods being disposed of to that other person, that other person has made actual payment of an amount, calculated in respect of those goods in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (2) hereof, to the person who has disposed of the goods to him.

(2) The amount to be paid by a person by virtue of paragraph (1) hereof in respect of any goods shall be the percentage, specified in column 2 of Schedule 1 hereto in relation to the description of goods to which those goods belong, of the price at which, at the date when the goods were disposed of to him, he could have purchased them for cash.

(3) The provisions of Part II of Schedule 2 shall, with the requisite modifications, apply for the purpose of determining whether this Article has been complied with as they apply for the purpose of determining whether the requirement specified in paragraph 3 of Part I of that Schedule has been complied with.

(4) Any payment made by virtue of this Article shall not be repaid in whole or in part unless and until the goods in respect of which the payment was made have been returned to the person to whom it was made.

7. (1) A person shall not enter into any agreement whereby any hire-purchase or credit sale agreement entered into after the said date comprising goods to which this Order applies is varied in either or both of the following respects, that is to say--

(a) any payment, made in accordance with the provisions of this Order before the agreement was entered into, is affected;

(b) the period over which the balance due thereunder is payable in respect of goods of any description is lengthened beyond the maximum period provided for in this Order for that description of goods.

(2) A person shall not enter into any agreement whereby a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement entered into whether before, on or after the said date is varied in such manner that that hire-purchase or credit sale agreement comprises after such variation goods to which this Order applies not comprised therein before such variation.

(3) A person shall not enter into any hire-purchase or credit sale agreement which is in substitution for another such agreement entered into whether before, on or after the said date and which--

(a) comprises all or some of the goods comprised in that other agreement; and

(b) comprises goods to which this Order applies but not comprised in that other agreement.

8. In relation to any hire-purchase or credit sale agreement in pursuance of which any goods to which this Order applies are disposed of to or by virtue of which any such goods are in the possession of--

(a) the spouse of a deceased person who at the date of his death was in possession of those goods under a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement, or

(b) a body corporate to whom possession of those goods has been transferred in the course of the assignment of a business to that body corporate by any person who was at the date of transfer in possession of those goods under a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement--

this Order shall have effect as if--

(i) any payment made in accordance with the provisions of this Order in respect of those goods by the deceased or by the transferor, as the case may be, had been made by that spouse or that body corporate respectively; and

(ii) the maximum period prescribed by this Order for the payment of the balance due in respect of those goods where the period specified in column 3 of Schedule 1 in relation to goods of the appropriate description less the period commencing with the date of the making of the first agreement under which the deceased or the transferor as the case may be, was in possession of those goods, and terminating respectively with the date of death or transfer.

9. A person who sells or lets goods to which this Order applies shall not be entitled to enforce any agreement for such sale or letting, any contract of guarantee relating hereto or any right to recover the goods if, in relation to such sale or letting, there has been a contravention of a provision of this Order.

10. Nothing in this order shall apply in relation to a credit sale agreement under which the property in all the goods passes unconditionally to the buyer on or before delivery of the goods to him and which provides for the whole of the purchase price, or where part of that price is to be paid before the agreement is entered into, the balance, to be paid either by approximately equal instalments at equal intervals spread over a period of less than nine months commencing with the date of the agreement or by one payment to be made within the period of three months commencing with that date.

SCHEDULE 1

Goods to which this Order applies

SCHEDULE 2.

Part I.

1. The agreement is in writing.

2. The agreement contains in respect of each description of goods a statement of the cash price of the goods of that description comprised in the agreement and of any amount payable by instalments under the agreement for the installation or maintenance of those goods.

3. (1) Before the agreement was entered into actual payment was made in respect of each description of goods comprised in the agreement of not less than an amount equal to the percentage specified in column 2 of Schedule 1 hereto in relation to that description of goods of the aggregate of--

(a) the cash price of the goods of that description comprised in the agreement; and

(b) any amount payable by instalments under the agreement for the installation or maintenance of the goods of that description comprised in the agreement.

(2) In computing for the purposes of subparagraph (1) of this paragraph the total amount to be paid before any agreement is entered into account may be taken of any allowance for any goods taken in part exchange for goods comprised in that agreement, being an allowance which is reasonable in relation to the value of the goods so taken in part exchange: Provided that this subparagraph shall not apply in respect of a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement, entered into after the coming into operation of this Order, which comprises wholly or partly any of the goods described at reference number 1 of Schedule 1 hereto or a radio-gramophone.

4. The agreement provides for the payment of the balance due in respect of each description of goods comprised therein either--

(a) by approximately equal instalments at equal intervals spread over a period commencing with the date of the agreement not exceeding that specified in column 3 of Schedule 1 hereto in relation to that description of goods; or

(b) in the case of a hire-purchase agreement, by one payment to be made within three months.

Part II

The requirement specified in paragraph 3 of Part I of this Schedule shall be deemed not to be complied with in relation to a hire-purchase or credit sale agreement if, for the purpose of facilitating the making of the payment mentioned in that paragraph or any part of that payment, money has been borrowed or otherwise acquired or agreed or arranged to be borrowed or otherwise to be acquired (whether by the person making the payment or by some other person) under or as a result of an agreement or arrangement to which one or more of the following persons are parties, that is to say--

(a) the person disposing of the goods under the hire-purchase or credit sale agreement;

(b) a person who has supplied or is to supply those goods to another person with a view to their being disposed of thereunder;

(c) the manufacturer of the goods to be disposed of thereunder.

GIVEN under my Official Seal this 1st day of November, 1968.

JOHN LYNCH,

Acting Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order prescribes minimum deposits and maximum periods of payment in respect of the purchase under hire-purchase or credit sale agreements of any of the goods specified in Schedule 1 of the Order.