Publications : EU, Competition & Regulatory
Irish Courts back Competition Authority against trade associations
10-12-2009 - A recent decision of the Irish Competition Court has highlighted interesting aspects of the approach of the High Court and the Competition Authority (“the Authority”) to the enforcement of competition law. The case shows that where the Authority elicits undertakings from trade associations as an alternative to pursuing legal proceedings, the commitments entered into will be vigorously enforced by the Authority and the Courts. more...
Merger Thresholds - A Trap for the Unwary
01-12-2008 - There is a threshold which must be reached before a proposed merger or acquisition must be notified to the Competition Authority (the "Authority"). more...
01-11-2008 - by Joanne Finn and Ronan O'Neill. This article appeared in the first edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Competition Litigation 2009; published by Global Legal Group Ltd, London (www.iclg.co.uk) more...
Summary of the EU Reform Treaty
01-10-2007 - This note provides a brief explanation of the most significant changes envisaged by the new EU Reform Treaty and the background to these changes. more...
Concurrent competition powers for ComReg
01-09-2007 - The Communications Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007 (the “2007 Act”) amends the Competition Act 2002 (the “2002 Act”) giving the Commission for Communications Regulation (“ComReg”) concurrent competition powers in relation to the field of electronic communications. more...
Undistorted competition and the new EU Treaty
10-07-2007 - At the recent European Council French President Nicolas Sarkozy persuaded EU leaders not to include a reference to “undistorted competition” as one of the objectives of the European Union when the EU Treaty is next amended. more...
01-06-2007 - There is an ever increasing amount of regulation facing business in Ireland. While the different regulatory regimes in Ireland may seem unconnected in fact regulation has become an important tool for managing the economy. For this reason regulators have similar powers of enforcement which allow them to gather information in order to discharge their duties. Regulators may also exchange information in certain circumstances and therefore information gathered by one regulator can in turn be passed between regulators and government agencies such as the Revenue Commissioners, the CAB or the Gardaí. For this reason it is important that business today know how to react to regulatory investigations. We have chosen three types of investigations that businesses could face in Ireland by way of example to demonstrate the issues that confront a business when the inspector calls. more...
02-05-2007 - In February the European Commission proposed a Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law. more...
New Media Merger Rules from 1 May 2007
01-05-2007 - The Competition Act 2002 provides for the mandatory notification of mergers and acquisitions to the Competition Authority where either the thresholds for mandatory notification set out in section 18 of the Act are satisfied or where a media merger is involved. more...
Penalties proposed in UK Construction Industry Cartel
23-03-2007 - Over the last two years the UK Office of Fair Trading (the “OFT”) has investigated an alleged bid rigging cartel operated by construction companies in England. On 22 March it announced that it has gathered sufficient information to establish the existence of this cartel and that as a result it is proposing to impose financial penalties on certain companies. more...
Authority blocks acquisition by Kingspan of Xtratherm
05-03-2007 - On 25 October 2006 the Competition Authority blocked the acquisition by Kingspan Group plc of the Leanort Group (which traded under the name Xtratherm). more...
01-03-2007 - In October 2006, the High Court published its judgment in the case of the Competition Authority v. BIDS. The case concerned a challenge by the Competition Authority against proposals to rationalise the beef processing industry. The Court held that the Authority failed to establish its case and is instructive as to the level of economic evidence required in cases on the High Court's Competition List. more...
Amended practice regarding merger notification thresholds
19-02-2007 - In December the Competition Authority issued a new "Notice in respect of certain terms used in Part 3 of the Competition Act 2002" which has amended the Authority's practice regarding the application mandatory merger notification thresholds. more...
Second prison sentence for cartel activity imposed by the Courts
12-02-2007 - The first prison sentence for an infringement of the Competition Act 2002 was handed down on 9th February 2007. more...
The Consumer Protection (National Consumer Agency) Bill 2006
27-09-2006 - On 24 August 2006, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Michéal Martin (“the Minister”) announced details of a new consumer protection Bill which will be published this Autumn. more...
Cartels: criminal penalties become reality in Ireland
18-07-2006 - Ireland has claimed a number of firsts in the criminal enforcement of competition law this year. In March an Irish court became the first in the EU to impose a prison sentence for cartel activity and more recently the first person to be arrested for cartel activity in the EU was arrested in Co. Cork. more...
Competition Law Compliance Programmes: Prevention is better than the cure!
01-07-2006 - Businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the consequences of infringing competition law. Certainly recent reports of fines and criminal penalties imposed for breaches of the law have helped focus the mind. As a result companies are taking a more proactive approach and adopting competition law compliance programmes to minimize the risks to their businesses. more...
01-05-2006 - The extent to which parties to a merger or acquisition may investigate or direct each others’ business prior to receiving merger control clearance is limited by the Irish merger control rules. more...
01-04-2006 - "The following article was first published in the Competition Law Journal, [2005] Comp Law 210" more...
01-03-2006 - The 1987 Groceries Order has been abolished by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2006 (the 2006 Act) which came into force on 20 March 2006. more...
The New EU Public Procurement Regime
01-07-2005 - In Ireland the regime whereby Government Departments, local authorities, regional bodies, companies financed in whole or in part by public funds and bodies governed by Public Law ("Contracting Authorities") and certain entities in the transport, water, telecommunications and energy sectors purchase supplies, works and services is known as "Public Procurement". more...
Irish Merger Control During 2004 (as at 15 September 2004)
01-10-2004 - The Competition Authority (the Authorit) received this year 52 merger notifications up to 15 September 2004, compared to a total of 47 merger notifications during 2003. In addition, the Authority cleared this year 12 transactions that were notified during 2003, including one Phase 2 full investigation. The sectors affected by these notifications related to food and beverage, manufacturing, banking, insurance, financial services, information technology, media, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, chemicals, motoring and ferry transport. more...
How to Ameliorate the Effects of a Dawn Raid by The Irish Competition Authority
03-09-2003 - Top tips on how to manage a dawn raid by the Irish Competition Authority. more...