Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys has published legislation that will give gift vouchers a five-year expiration date.
The legislation will also prevent companies from insisting that the full amount in the voucher must be spent in one transaction.
The legislation will not apply retrospectively, however.
The company behind One4All, The Gift Voucher Shop, have welcomed the legislation.
"We welcome the bill which will bring in a minimum expiry date of five years for gift vouchers, ban the requirement for gift vouchers to be spent in one transaction, and ban the cancellation of gift vouchers – or the imposition of charges – where the recipient’s name is registered incorrectly," GVS said in a statement.
With the last shopping weekend before Christmas coming up, GVS is encouraging all consumers to use their outstanding gift cards 'to help ease the financial burden of the festive period'. The multi-store cards accepted in 8,500 retail stores nationwide.
