What the Irish rules say
The Consumer Protection (Gift Vouchers) Act 2019 applies to gift vouchers sold on or after 2 December 2019. It covers many vouchers sold by businesses, including vouchers sold to consumers and other businesses, in paper or electronic form. If the voucher has an expiry date, the period must be at least five years from the purchase date. A business can choose not to apply an expiry date.
The customer must receive the expiry information on a durable medium, such as paper or email. The information should make clear the expiry date, the contract date and the redemption period, or state that no expiry applies. The CCPC also explains that a customer cannot be required to spend the entire value in one transaction or be limited in the number of vouchers used together.
Your obligations as a business, in plain terms
- Five years or no expiry. A voucher sold today cannot expire before the same date five years from now.
- Tell the customer in writing. Put the expiry date, or “no expiry”, in the confirmation email or on the voucher itself.
- No fee to change a name. If a voucher is issued in someone's name, the name can be changed free of charge. You cannot refuse a voucher because the name on it does not match the holder's passport or other ID.
- Balances carry over. A customer can use a voucher across several visits until the value runs out or the voucher expires.
- No limit on vouchers per bill. A customer holding three vouchers can use all three on one bill.
Older vouchers are not caught. Vouchers sold before 2 December 2019 keep the terms they were sold under. If you still hold printed stock from before then with a shorter expiry, the Department of Enterprise FAQs say it can still be sold if the documentation includes a statement extending validity to five years from issue.
Partial use and small balances
A monetary voucher is not a single-use coupon. If part of the value is used, the remaining value should stay available until the voucher is exhausted or expires. Under the CCPC guidance, where more than €1 remains, the balance can be refunded by cash, electronic transfer or a new voucher carrying the original expiry.
Bronora keeps the remaining value on the same monetary voucher. Every redemption and reversal creates a record, so the original issue, the current balance and earlier use remain explainable to the issuing business and the recipient.
What should remain available to the customer
The voucher and its customer-access page should identify the issuing business, voucher code, issue date, expiry date or no-expiry statement, current balance and the terms that applied when the voucher was bought. For an experience voucher, include booking and availability conditions as well as the general voucher terms.
Merchants using Bronora start with five years’ validity for paid vouchers and can choose no expiry. Before publishing, make sure the product description and customer terms do not contradict the expiry information shown to the recipient.
Experience vouchers and price changes
A voucher for a named experience, such as a spa day or a dinner for two, still needs five years' validity where the Act applies. Over five years your prices and menus will change. Decide now how you will honour an older experience voucher: offer the same experience, or treat the voucher as its paid value towards the current price. Put that decision in the terms the customer sees before paying. The voucher terms checklist covers the wording.
Check exclusions before relying on them
The Act contains exclusions, including certain short-term discount vouchers of up to three months, refund vouchers and credit notes, electronic money, loyalty schemes and promotional schemes. Whether an exclusion applies depends on the voucher and the way it is sold. Do not treat a marketing label as an exclusion without checking the current guidance and obtaining advice where needed.
Five years of open vouchers
A five-year validity period means vouchers stay open on your books for a long time. Keep a running figure for the value sold and not yet used, and share it with your accountant. The guide to unredeemed gift vouchers explains how to track it, and the VAT guide covers when VAT is due on a voucher.
A useful launch check
Review an actual test voucher on a phone and in its delivery email. Confirm that the merchant name, value, terms, issue date, validity and contact details are readable before taking an order. Use the voucher terms checklist alongside this guide, particularly for fixed experiences and bookings. The same rules apply whether you run a hotel, restaurant or spa, and to every voucher you sell, including corporate bulk orders.