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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 6 Nov 1997

Vol. 482 No. 5

Written Answers - Competition Legislation.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

43 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of companies which have been the subject of consideration under the monopoly or competition legislation in the past three years; whether these companies are currently operating in accordance with the criteria laid down under the relevant legislation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18256/97]

The annual report of the Competition Authority and the reports under mergers legislation indicate that 212 proposals were considered fully notifiable under the Mergers and Takeovers (Control) Acts, 1978 to 1996, and, accordingly, were examined as required by the legislation.

The competition Acts established the independent Competition Authority to regulate competition. There are a number of ways in which a company could be the subject of consideration under competition legislation:

(i) Investigation by the Director of Competition Enforcement for possible breaches of competition legislation:

(ii) Notification of agreements to the Competition Authority;

(iii) Actions in the courts.

The Competition (Amendment) Act, 1996 provided for public enforcement of competition legislation by the newly appointed Director of Competition Enforcement. The director, who is a member of the Competition Authority, is independent of my Department and does not publicise details of investigations being undertaken by him. The annual report of the Competition Authority for 1996 mentions that 94 complaints were received by the director during the second half of 1996, after the commencement of the 1996 (Amendment) Act, 78 of which have now been dealt with. One hundred and ninety-seven complaints have been received to date in 1997, of which 82 have been dealt with.
Section 7 (1) of the Competition Act, 1991, provides that every agreement, decision and concerted practice of a kind described in section 4 (1) which came into existence since 1 October 1991 and in respect of which the parties involved request a licence or certificate, shall be notified to the Competition Authority. During the period 1994 to-date, 129 notifications were received by the Authority, of which 54 have been dealt with by them so far.
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