Annual Report of the Competition Authority 1999 Published

Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, today (Wednesday 2nd August, 2000) published the Annual Report of the Competition Authority for 1999.

Announcing the publication of the Report the Tánaiste said she believed "competition was one of the key economic tools available to the Government in its fight against inflation. Vigorous competition is the most effective was of ensuring the best value for consumers and the Government is committed to ensuring competition in all sectors of the economy. It is critical for our continued economic success and plays a vital role in the drive to improve our competitiveness."

"The major beneficiaries of competition are the consumer and it is clear that in those sectors where real competition exists, costs to consumers have fallen," the Tánaiste added.

The Tánaiste also referred to the Report the Competition and Mergers Review Group which made some 40 recommendations on a variety of aspects of Competition and Mergers legislation, the enforcement of competition law and the administration of mergers law. The Tánaiste said that a number of these recommendations deal with the issue of enforcement and while she has made no decisions in regard to the Report’s recommendations she has taken steps to ensure that the Competition Authority has adequate resources to do this job. The Tánaiste confirmed that recruitment of five additional posts to the Authority is currently underway and she will continue to monitor the resource needs of the Authority.

The role of the Competition Authority is to promote greater competition in every sector of the Irish economy by tackling anti-competitive practices, thereby contributing to an improvement in economic welfare.

The Competition Authority was established following the enactment of the Competition Act, 1991. The approach to competition law introduced in 1991 was strengthened by statute in 1996 with the production of new enforcement powers for the Competition Authority and the creation of a post of Director of Competition Enforcement.

The principal features of the Authority’s Annual Report for 1999 are as follows:

(i) there was a sustained level of enforcement activity by the Authority in 1999, which is the third year of enforcement functions arising from the Competition (Amendment) Act 1996.

(ii) the Authority received 17 notifications of commercial agreements requesting certification or licence under the Competition Act, 1991. (iii) the Authority took 44 decisions in 1999 and disposed of a total of 108 notifications during the year. This is in keeping with the Authority’s work plan which set out targets for disposal of 100 notifications of certificates or licences per year from 1998 onwards. (iv) the Authority had the merger proposals involving Princes Holdings Ltd/Suir Nore Relays Ltd and Liberty Media AL Inc/Aringour Ltd referred to them by the Tánaiste under section 7 of the Mergers and Take-Overs(Control) Acts, 1978 to 1996. The Authority concluded that the transactions were unlikely to prevent or restrict competition or restrain trade and was unlikely to operate against the common good. The Tánaiste subsequently approved the mergers.

The Competition Authority continued its efforts to increase the level of awareness among business and consumers about competition. Such measures are designed to encourage greater compliance by business with the provisions of the legislation and to foster an awareness among the public at large regarding the types of business practices which are not acceptable.

In this regard it published three discussion papers during 1999 on the following topics: "Competition and Regulation in Public Utility Industries", "Competition, Parallel Imports & Trademark Exhaustion : Two Wrongs from a Trademark Right" and the Authority’s response to the Competition and Mergers Review Group’s "Proposals for Discussion in relation to Competition Law".

Members and staff of the Authority also addressed a number of conferences on a variety of Competition topics during the year.