What does CPC stand for?

Age Action urged Mr Meade to ensure the institutions comply with the Consumer Protection Code.

Under the Consumer Protection Code all customers, regardless of their age, must be sold products which are appropriate for them.

There has been an abundance of law and regulation on financial advertising in Ireland through a series of measures, laws and regulations, namely the Consumer Credit Act, 1995, the Consumer Protection Act 2007, the European Communities (Misleading and Comparative Marketing) Communications Regulations 2007,the Consumer Protection Code and other public and industry codes.

The IFSRA published a revised Consumer Protection Code on July 25th 2006.

In effect, the move could see VHI being forced to adhere to the Consumer Protection Code and to improve its capital solvency levels to 40pc - potentially costing the State-backed private health insurer [currency]100m.

The Financial Regulator's Consumer Protection Code requires that firms offering debt consolidation loans must tell you in writing what the total costs of your existing loans are, compared with the total cost of a consolidated loan.

Applicability The Consumer Protection Code applies to the entities regulated by the Financial Regulator and entities with an equivalent authorisation in a different Member State.

The Consumer Protection Code is there to protect customers,and the FinancialOmbudsman has a role to carry it out in terms of protecting consumer rights in this area, and if there are offendersthey should be published.