Northern Ireland to allow prize draws with purchase

The_3rd_Zebu

Just announced by the Institute of Promotional Marketing

January 10, 2013


The Northern Ireland Government announced today (January 10 2013) that it intends to change the law on gambling to allow Northern Irish consumers to enter prize draw promotions by buying products, bringing the province into line with the rest of the UK and with European Union law.
Philip Circus, the IPM’s director of legal services, says: “The IPM has been lobbying the Northern Ireland Government for the past few years on this issue. We’ve pointed out to them on numerous occasions that their ban is illegal under EU law. It’s good to see that they have finally listened to us.”
Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland announced today that Northern Ireland’s gambling laws will be updated and improved.
As part of these changes, a spokesperson for the Northern Irish Department for Social Development confirmed: “The amendments to the legislation will see Northern Ireland brought into line with the law in the rest of the United Kingdom allowing brands to run promotional prize draws where consumers have to buy the product first. Work will now commence on drafting the new legislation; it is expected that this will be brought to the Northern Ireland Assembly before the end of the current mandate in 2015.”
For the last few years, Northern Ireland has banned prize draws where a product had to be bought; instead, companies and agencies had to include a ‘No Purchase Necessary’ route for Northern Irish consumers. This was because Northern Ireland did not adopt the Gambling Act 2005, which changed the rules in the rest of the UK.
However, according to the IPM’s interpretation of European Union law, the Northern Irish ban on linking prize draws to purchase was itself illegal under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. This lists 31 practices which are banned; as it is a maximum harmonisation directive, member states must ban these practices but cannot go further. The Northern Irish ban went further than the Directive allowed.

I had always thought that it was unfair to allow certain consumers to enter a competition for free whilst everyone else was required to make a purchase to enter.

mjm3346

Or to put it another way NI to lose the right to a No Purchase Necessary entry option.

lilias

I remember going in for some really good competitions using the NPN. Those were the days (sigh)

josie301

lol
A few weeks ago I bought a Snickers bar @50p - looked at the NPN on the back, to my wonderous delight I was able to post a piece of paper with my details to the company instead of purchasing the choccie - FANTASTIC........until you realise a stamp also costs 50/60p and I lose out on my Snickers with my coffee!

Wonder if the Sun comps will change the T&C's again now we are allowed to purchase the rag to enter......:rotfl:

The_3rd_Zebu

josie301 wrote: »

lol

On many comps involving the NPI route for Northern Ireland you did not need to send off for anything to participate.

An example was the Golden Wonder ' Win a Million' comp.

You could simply take a guess at the code and enter on line.
( It did not require any great intelligence)

Have a look at what a disproportionate number of the winners came from Northern Ireland on this (disappointingly small) winners list.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=43134896&postcount=65

:rotfl:

josie301

lol - I must have missed that one! They are/were few and far between - tbh I usually had a quick scan to see if it was going to cost me postage or if I had to go to the post box & never bothered if it did cos I'm lazy so & so

but yeah 4.7% of the winners were from NI, (just realised I also know half them thru here ) but I think even more shocking is the fact they only had 47 winners out of a possible 404!
A mere £1810 out of the possible £1million

also I'm not sure how this chap is going to pay the cheque in either
xfnxfnfn (bristol) - looks to me like a code guesser!

Shellybee

Sad to see the NPN route go...I did quite well out of the online NPN entries.
I never entered any that needed details posted.

My name is on that Golden Wonder list

Ah well...onwards and upwards