S.I. No. 309 of 2026 moves the rules on selling financial services to consumers at a distance out of a standalone 2004 instrument and into the Consumer Rights Act 2022. Made on 30 June 2026, the European Union (Distance Contracts for Financial Services) Regulations 2026 transpose Directive (EU) 2023/2673 by inserting a new Part 5A and Schedule 3A into the Act, and revoke the 2004 Distance Marketing Regulations (S.I. No. 853 of 2004). Better Regulation has published two analyses of the change together: a comparison report covering 28 substantive changes, and a correlation table mapping every provision of the repealed Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive to its successor in Irish law.
- Instrument
- The European Union (Distance Contracts for Financial Services) Regulations 2026, S.I. No. 309 of 2026.
- What it does
- Inserts Part 5A (sections 125B to 125I) and Schedule 3A into the Consumer Rights Act 2022; revokes S.I. No. 853 of 2004; amends ten related enactments.
- Transposes
- Directive (EU) 2023/2673, which amends the Consumer Rights Directive and repeals the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive (2002/65/EC).
- Status
- Made 30 June 2026; in force. The underlying European rules apply from 19 June 2026. Confirm commencement before acting.
- Who it affects
- Firms selling financial services to Irish consumers at a distance, and any trader concluding distance contracts through an online interface where a cancellation right exists.
- Enforcement
- The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Central Bank of Ireland.
- Where to read
- The 2026 Regulations, the Consumer Rights Act 2022 and the Better Regulation analysis.
What S.I. No. 309 of 2026 does
At European level, Directive (EU) 2023/2673 repealed the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive (2002/65/EC), the DMFSD, with effect from 19 June 2026, and folded its subject matter into the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU). The 2002 regime predated smartphones and online sales journeys, and much of it had been overtaken by sector specific European law.
In Ireland, S.I. No. 309 of 2026 gives effect to that change. It inserts a new Part 5A (sections 125B to 125I) and a new Schedule 3A into the Consumer Rights Act 2022, revokes the 2004 Distance Marketing Regulations, and makes consequential amendments across ten related enactments. The core architecture is familiar: pre-contractual information, a 14 day cancellation right, and payment rules for services provided before cancellation. The detail, however, has moved on, and the enforcement architecture now points to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Central Bank of Ireland.
The Regulations were made on 30 June 2026 and signed into law in early July 2026, and the regime is in force. Because legislative status is the fact most likely to change and most damaging if wrong, confirm the current commencement position on the Irish Statute Book or the instrument itself before relying on it.
The 28 changes at a glance
Better Regulation's comparison report identifies 28 substantive changes across the Consumer Rights Act 2022, ten related enactments and the revoked 2004 Regulations. Read the figures as the shape of the exercise rather than a fixed and final total, since others may come to light. Nine of the identified changes are assessed as high significance.
Source: Better Regulation Consumer Rights Act 2022 and S.I. No. 309 of 2026 comparison report. The single deletion is the revocation of the 2004 Distance Marketing Regulations.
Five changes are flagged for immediate review. The online cancellation function in new section 115A, the pre-contractual information duty in section 125D, the cancellation right in section 125E, the online interface protections in section 125I, and the revocation of the 2004 Regulations in Regulation 23. Each report change also carries an impact assessment, a significance rating, the stakeholder types affected, and a recommended action, and every finding is linked to the underlying provision on the platform.
The online cancellation function reaches every online trader
This is the change most likely to be missed, because it does not live in the financial services part of the Act. New section 115A requires a prominently displayed, continuously available function labelled 'cancel contract here' wherever a distance contract is concluded through an online interface and a cancellation right exists, whether that right arises under the general distance selling regime in section 112 or under the new Part 5A. It transposes the withdrawal function inserted into the Consumer Rights Directive as Article 11a.
Supporting amendments embed the function in the general distance selling disclosures and in the model cancellation instructions in Schedule 3 and Schedule 4. The practical effect is broad: every trader selling online to Irish consumers under a contract that carries a cancellation right must provide the function, not only financial services providers.
The online cancellation function is not a financial services rule. It reaches every trader concluding distance contracts online where a right to cancel exists.
New duties for digital sales journeys
Part 5A legislates for chatbots, robo-advice and dark patterns by name rather than by analogy. Four duties address the digital journey directly.
Adequate explanations, with a right to human intervention. New section 125H requires adequate explanations where a trader uses online tools, and a right for the consumer to request human intervention. It transposes Consumer Rights Directive Article 16d.
A prohibition on manipulative interface design. Section 125I prohibits online interfaces that deceive or manipulate consumers, the dark patterns rule, and adds a transparency duty on the main parameters that determine the ranking of the offers presented. It transposes Article 16e.
Personalised pricing disclosure. Where a price was personalised on the basis of automated decision making, that must be disclosed under Schedule 3A. The Schedule also requires disclosure of any environmental or social objectives of the investment strategy.
The burden of proof shifts to the trader. Compliance with the information and explanation duties must be proved by the trader, not the consumer. Contravention of each duty is a criminal offence.
Enforcement moves to the CCPC and the Central Bank
Part 5A offences may be prosecuted by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission or the Central Bank of Ireland under section 147, and the Central Bank Act 1942 designation extends the Bank's administrative sanctions remit to Part 5A. Collective redress applies through the Representative Actions Act 2023, and cross-border infringements can be pursued through the EU consumer protection cooperation network. ComReg and the fixed payment notice regime are deliberately carved out. The result is a regime with two enforcers, criminal offences attached to each substantive duty, and a collective redress route, so the compliance stakes are higher than under the 2004 Regulations.
Where the old rules now live: the correlation table
A revoked instrument raises one immediate question for anyone with a reference to it: where does each provision live now? Better Regulation's correlation table answers it. It maps the 24 provisions of the repealed DMFSD, the recitals and Articles 1 to 23, to their successors in the Consumer Rights Directive as amended, and onward into the Consumer Rights Act 2022, following the official correlation table in Annex II to Directive (EU) 2023/2673. It then adds the three obligations that have no DMFSD predecessor, and a provision-by-provision annex on S.I. No. 309 of 2026 itself.
Source: Better Regulation DMFSD to Consumer Rights Act 2022 correlation table. The no-successor count is dominated by the DMFSD's spent final and transitional articles (16 to 23), alongside a few dropped substantive provisions such as payment by card and out-of-court redress.
The table below shows the substantive mappings and the three new obligations. The full 27 row map, with sub-article detail and links to every provision, is in the correlation table download.
| DMFSD (2002/65/EC) | Consumer Rights Directive, as amended | Consumer Rights Act 2022, as amended | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article 1 Object and scope | Article 3(1b) | Section 125C Application | Restructured |
| Article 2 Definitions | Article 2 | Section 125B Definitions | Restructured |
| Article 3 Pre-contractual information | Article 16a(1) | Section 125D and Schedule 3A | Amended |
| Article 5 Communication of terms | Article 16a(5) to (6) | Section 125D(1)(b), (4) | Amended |
| Article 6 Right of withdrawal | Article 16b | Sections 125E and 125F | Amended |
| Article 7 Payment before withdrawal | Article 16c | Section 125G | Amended |
| Articles 8 to 10 Card and unsolicited services | No equivalent | No equivalent | No successor |
| Article 11 Sanctions | Article 24 | Sections 115A(6), 125D(8) and following; section 147 | Amended |
| Articles 14 to 23 Redress and final provisions | Largely no equivalent | Largely no equivalent | No successor |
| New: online cancellation function | Article 11a | Section 115A ('cancel contract here') | New |
| New: adequate explanations | Article 16d | Section 125H | New |
| New: online interface protections | Article 16e | Section 125I | New |
The correlation also sets out the sector specific interfaces, because the credit, mortgage credit, payment services and insurance regimes keep priority through precise cross references. Among them is the exercise of the Article 16b(7)(a) derogation for exempt mortgage credit agreements, and a clause-by-clause demarcation of the payment services disclosures. The practical instruction is to map obligations across the boundary rather than assume one regime displaces the other wholesale.
How to re-point policies that cite the 2004 Regulations
If your policies, disclosure packs, obligations registers or legal opinions cite the 2004 Distance Marketing Regulations, they now need re-pointing to Part 5A of the Consumer Rights Act 2022. A saver in Regulation 22 keeps the 2004 Regulations relevant to conduct that took place before revocation, so the old citations do not simply disappear, but forward-looking obligations must move to the new regime.
For each reference, you need three things: where the obligation now sits, whether its substance has changed or merely moved, and, where a DMFSD provision has no successor, whether the underlying duty survives elsewhere. That is what the two analyses provide together. The Better Regulation comparison report gives the change-by-change detail with a significance rating, the affected stakeholder types, a recommended action and a compliance obligation tracker; the correlation table gives the provision-level map, with every provision one click from its text on the platform. Used together, they turn a revoked instrument from a research problem into a checklist.
Common questions
What is S.I. No. 309 of 2026?
S.I. No. 309 of 2026 is the European Union (Distance Contracts for Financial Services) Regulations 2026, made on 30 June 2026. It transposes Directive (EU) 2023/2673 by inserting a new Part 5A (sections 125B to 125I) and Schedule 3A into the Consumer Rights Act 2022, revokes the 2004 Distance Marketing Regulations (S.I. No. 853 of 2004), and makes consequential amendments across ten related enactments. The result is that the rules on selling financial services to consumers at a distance now sit inside the Consumer Rights Act rather than in a standalone instrument.
When did the new distance financial services regime come into force in Ireland?
The Regulations were made on 30 June 2026 and signed into law in early July 2026, and the regime is in force. The underlying European rules apply from 19 June 2026, the date the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive (2002/65/EC) was repealed by Directive (EU) 2023/2673. Because commencement is the fact most likely to change and most damaging if wrong, confirm the current position against the instrument before acting on it.
Does the online cancellation function apply to all online traders or only financial services?
It reaches beyond financial services. New section 115A of the Consumer Rights Act 2022 requires a prominently displayed, continuously available function labelled 'cancel contract here' wherever a distance contract is concluded through an online interface and a cancellation right exists, whether under the general distance selling regime in section 112 or the new Part 5A. Every trader selling online to Irish consumers under contracts that carry a cancellation right is affected, not only financial services providers.
What happened to the Distance Marketing Regulations 2004 (S.I. No. 853 of 2004)?
They are revoked in full by Regulation 23 of S.I. No. 309 of 2026, following the repeal of the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive (2002/65/EC) at European level. Their subject matter is carried by Part 5A of the Consumer Rights Act 2022. A saver in Regulation 22 keeps the 2004 Regulations relevant to conduct that took place before revocation, so any policy, disclosure pack or obligations register that cites S.I. No. 853 of 2004 now needs re-pointing to the new regime.
Who enforces Part 5A of the Consumer Rights Act 2022?
Enforcement sits with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Central Bank of Ireland. Part 5A offences may be prosecuted by either body under section 147, and the Central Bank Act 1942 designation extends the Bank's administrative sanctions remit to Part 5A. Each substantive duty carries a criminal offence. Collective redress is available through the Representative Actions Act 2023, and cross-border infringements can be pursued through the EU consumer protection cooperation network.
What are the main new obligations for digital financial services journeys?
Four duties address digital sales directly. Traders that use online tools such as chatbots must give adequate explanations with a right to human intervention (section 125H). Online interfaces must not be designed to deceive or manipulate consumers, a dark patterns prohibition (section 125I). Where offers are ranked, traders must be transparent about the main parameters that determine the ranking. And where a price was personalised through automated decision making, that must be disclosed (Schedule 3A). The burden of proving compliance with the information and explanation duties rests on the trader.
Key takeaways
- S.I. No. 309 of 2026 transposes Directive (EU) 2023/2673, inserting Part 5A and Schedule 3A into the Consumer Rights Act 2022 and revoking the 2004 Distance Marketing Regulations. It was made on 30 June 2026 and is in force.
- The comparison report identifies 28 substantive changes, 9 of them high significance: 11 added, 16 modified and 1 deleted.
- The online cancellation function in section 115A reaches every online trader with a cancellation right, not only financial services providers.
- New duties address digital sales directly: adequate explanations with human intervention, a dark patterns prohibition, ranking transparency and personalised-pricing disclosure, with the burden of proof on the trader.
- Enforcement moves to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Central Bank of Ireland, with a criminal offence attached to each substantive duty.
- The correlation table maps all 24 DMFSD provisions to their Irish successors: 8 amended, 2 restructured, 14 with no successor and 3 new obligations. Any citation of the 2004 Regulations now needs re-pointing to Part 5A.
This analysis draws on Better Regulation's human-curated source documents: the texts of the Consumer Rights Act 2022, S.I. No. 309 of 2026 and the repealed Distance Marketing instruments, as maintained and verified by our regulatory specialists. The artificial intelligence comparison layer identifies and summarises the changes at scale and maps each provision to its successor, and every finding is checked against the underlying instruments. The curated source remains the foundation; the AI makes the comparison and the correlation faster to produce and to keep current.