79.— (1) A person guilty of an offence under this Act (other than an offence under section 65(2)) is liable on summary conviction to the following fines and penalties:

(a) on a first summary conviction for any such offence, to F100[a class B fine] or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both;

(b) on any subsequent summary conviction for the same offence or any other offence under this Act (other than an offence under section 65(2)), to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.

(2) If, after being convicted of an offence, the person referred to in subsection (1) continues to contravene the requirement or prohibition to which the offence relates, the person is guilty of a further offence on each day that the contravention continues and for each such offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €500.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this Act (other than an offence under any of the excluded sections) is liable on conviction on indictment to the following fines and penalties:

(a) on a first conviction on indictment for any such offence, to a fine not exceeding €60,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 18 months or both;

(b) on any subsequent conviction on indictment for the same offence or any other offence under this Act (other than an offence under any of the excluded sections), to a fine not exceeding €100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 24 months or both.

(4) In subsection (3) “excluded sections” means sections 30(11), (12) and (15), 32(3), 48(5), 49(3), 51(1) and (2), 58, 59(3), 60(2), 65(2), 69(4), 75(11) and 101(5).

(5) If, after being convicted of an offence, the person referred to in subsection(3) continues to contravene the requirement or prohibition to which the offence relates, the person is guilty of a further offence on each day that the contravention continues and for each such offence is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €500, and

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €10,000.

(6) A person guilty of an offence under section 65(2) is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €150,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.

(7) If, after being convicted of an offence under section 65(2), a person continues to contravene section 65(1), the person is guilty of a further offence on each day that the contravention continues and for each such offence is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €10,000.

F101[(7A) Where a court is determining the sentence to impose on a person convicted of an offence under any of Chapters 1 to 4 of Part 3 or this section, it shall take account, so far as applicable, of the following indicative and non-exhaustive criteria:

(a) the nature, gravity, scale and duration of the infringement;

(b) any action taken by the person to mitigate or remedy the damage suffered by consumers;

(c) any previous infringements of the provisions of any of those Chapters or of this section by the person;

(d) the financial benefits gained or losses avoided by the person due to the infringement, if the relevant data are available;

(e) any penalties imposed on the person for the same infringement in other Member States in cross-border cases where information about such penalties is available through the mechanism established by Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017¹⁹ on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 2006/2004;

(f) any other aggravating or mitigating factors applicable in the circumstances of the case.]

(8) In considering an appropriate penalty under this section for a trader convicted of an offence under section 47, 51(2) or 56, the court may take into consideration any advertisement published by or on behalf of the trader containing corrective statements to remedy the prohibited act or practice in respect of which the trader is convicted.

(9) Section 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1967 applies in relation to an offence under this Act except that the following range of fines and penalties are to be substituted for those provided in section 13(3)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1967:

(a) if it is a first conviction for an offence under this Act, the accused is liable to a fine not exceeding €3,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both;

(b) if it is not a first conviction for an offence under this Act, the accused is liable to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.