Technical deficiencies in existing legislation
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However, the one technical issue which needs to be reviewed is the application of Section 33AK of the Central Bank Act. IFSRA interprets this very strictly. For example, it believes that it is prevented from responding to a complainant when a breach of the code is alleged. So a complainant about an ad, for example, will never know if their complaint has been upheld or has been rejected by IFSRA. They will not know what defence if any was offered by the advertiser. IFSRA will not discuss their opinions on any advertisements with the Consumer Panel because Section 33AK prevents them from doing so. This does make it difficult for us to make suggestions to IFSRA and to review IFSRA’s performance and decision making. We don’t believe that the intention of the legislation was to provide such a veil of secrecy over everything IFSRA does.