PART VIII.

Standard Specifications and Standard Marks.

20. —(1) The Institute shall formulate for the Minister specifications for such commodities, processes and practices as the Minister may from time to time request.

(2) In formulating specifications under subsection (1) of this section the Institute shall comply with the directions of the Minister.

(3) The Minister, on obtaining a specification from the Institute, may by order declare the specification to be a standard specification for the commodity, process or practice to which it relates.

(4) Where, under any Act other than this Act, any Minister of State is authorised to prescribe a specification or standard of quality for any commodity, process or practice, or to issue licences for the sale or advertisement of any commodity, the Minister shall not declare a specification in respect of that commodity, process or practice to be a standard specification except with the consent of that Minister of State.

(5) The Minister may revoke an order made by him under subsection (3) of this section.

(6) Every order under subsection (3) of this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to anything previously done under the order.

21. —(1) Every person who makes any representation which is false in any material respect that any commodity, process or practice is of standard specification shall, unless he proves that he acted without intent to defraud, be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding, one hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(2) In this section the word “representation” means, in relation to a commodity, process or practice, any representation, direct or indirect, and whether oral, by conduct, or in writing, and if in writing, includes a representation in any advertisement, catalogue, billhead or other document relating to the commodity, process or practice or implied in the use of any trade mark or style.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the operation of paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 2 of the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887.

22. —(1) The Minister may by order prescribe a mark for use, in accordance with this Act, in connection with a specified commodity, process or practice, to indicate that it conforms to a particular standard specification.

(2) A standard mark shall include the words “Caighdeán Éireannach” or the initials “C.É.” and may include the words “Irish Standard” or the initials “I.S.” or any other mark.

(3) The Minister may revoke an order made by him under this section.

(4) Whenever an order prescribing a standard mark for use in connection with a commodity, process or practice conforming to a particular standard specification is for the time being in force, the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) the Minister shall be the proprietor of the standard mark,

(b) for the purpose of the Merchandise Marks Acts, 1887 to 1931, the standard mark shall be a trade mark;

(c) the use of the standard mark in connection with a commodity, process or practice which does not conform to that standard specification shall be a false trade description within the meaning of those Acts;

(d) those Acts shall apply accordingly.

(5) The Minister may grant to a person a licence to use, subject to such conditions as may be expressed in the licence, a standard mark in connection with any commodity, process or practice for which there is a standard specification.

(6) Where the Minister has, with the consent of any other Minister of State, declared a specification to be a standard specification for a commodity, process or practice, he shall not grant a licence under this section to use a standard mark in connection with that commodity, process or practice except with the consent of that Minister of State.

(7) The Minister may revoke a licence under this section but, if the licence was granted with the consent of any other Minister of State, only with the consent of that Minister of State.

(8) A person who—

(a) uses a standard mark otherwise than in accordance with a licence under this section, or

(b) makes any representation or uses any mark in connection with any commodity, process or practice which suggests or is likely to suggest that a person who is not licensed to use a standard mark in connection with that commodity, process or practice is so licensed or is entitled to use a standard mark,

shall, unless he proves that he acted without intent to defraud, be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(9) The word “representation” in subsection (8) of this section has the same meaning as it has in section 21 of this Act.

23. —(1) The Minister shall keep—

(a) a register of standard specifications (to be called the Register of Standard Specifications), and

(b) a register of standard marks (to be called the Register of Standard Marks).

(2) Each register shall be made available for inspection by any person, on payment of a fee of one shilling, at all reasonable times.

(3) A certificate under the official seal of the Minister as to the contents of a register or of any entry therein shall be prima facie evidence of the facts so certified.

(4) The Minister shall issue to any person, on payment of a fee of one shilling for each entry, such certificate as is mentioned in subsection (3) of this section.

24. —The Minister may procure the registration, in any register maintained in any place outside the State, of a standard mark and may procure himself to be entered in the register as the proprietor of the standard mark.

25. —(1) A person shall not be registered under the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916, after the passing of this Act by a name containing or consisting of the word “Caighdeán”, or the word “Standard”, or the initials “C.É.” or “I.S.” or by a name which so nearly resembles any such word or initials as to be likely to deceive or to cause confusion.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to the registration of a person by a name similar to that by which any predecessor in business of that person was, immediately before the passing of this Act, registered under the Companies Acts, 1908 to 1924, or the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916.

26. —(1) A company shall not be registered under the Companies Acts, 1908 to 1924, after the passing of this Act by a name containing or consisting of the word “Caighdeán” or the word “Standard” or the initials “C.É.” or “I.S.” or by a name which so nearly resembles any such word or initials as to be likely to deceive or to cause confusion.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to the registration of a company by a name similar to that by which any predecessor in business of that company was, immediately before the passing of this Act, registered under the Companies Acts, 1908 to 1924, or the Registration of Business Names Act, 1916.

27. —No trade mark or design shall be registered under the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Acts, 1927 and 1929, after the passing of this Act if it contains or consists of the word “Caighdeán” or the word “Standard” or the initials “C.É.” or “I.S.” or if it so nearly resembles any such word or initials or any standard mark as to be likely to deceive or to cause confusion.

28. —An offence under the Merchandise Marks Acts, 1887 to 1931, or under section 22 of this Act, in relation to a standard mark or standard specification or a licence under that section may be prosecuted by or at the suit of the Minister as prosecutor.