JD Sports to honour over 5,000 expired vouchers worth almost €250,000 to Irish consumers, following CCPC intervention
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has secured an undertaking from multinational sportswear retailer, JD Sports, to return almost €250,000 in unspent gift card credit to Irish consumers.
This decision follows engagement by the CCPC with JD Sports about reports that gift cards had been sold to Irish consumers with incorrect expiry dates.
Under gift voucher legislation introduced in Ireland in December 2019, gift vouchers must be valid for at least five years. However, since the legislation was introduced, gift cards bought online from JD Sports were issued with just a one-year expiry date.
When contacted by the CCPC, John David Sports Fashion (Ireland) Limited, trading as JD Sports, admitted the error and offered to immediately take steps to remedy the losses to Irish consumers.
JD sports will now reissue 5,604 gift cards where an outstanding balance of €10 or more was cancelled on expiry of the card. The affected gift cards were all bought online during a period covering late 2019 through to late 2025. Gift cards bought in December 2025 were not affected. JD Sports has calculated the expired value of the cards to be re-issued at €246,859.
JD Sports noted that the majority of gift vouchers sold by the company in Ireland had the correct expiry date applied with affected cards representing a very small percentage of the total.
Brian McHugh, CCPC Chairperson, said:
“Ireland has stricter gift voucher rules than neighbouring jurisdictions, with a 5-year minimum expiry period. This case shows why consumers need that extra time to spend gift vouchers. Customers of JD Sports lost out on almost a quarter of a million euros when their gift vouchers expired after only 12 months. Following a CCPC intervention, that loss is now going to be set right.
“JD Sports cooperated fully with the CCPC, and we were glad to be able to move quickly to resolve the issue and confirm this positive outcome for consumers.”
JD Sports has until 4 January 2027 to contact all affected consumers and re-issue their gift cards.
Full details of the case have been published on the CCPC's Consumer Protection List which is available on ccpc.ie/CPL. Other cases formally published on the Consumer Protection List today include the outcomes of prosecutions taken against BT Arnotts and Quills which were completed earlier this year. The details of these two cases were made public at the time of the court hearings.
