Vol. 521 No. 1
57 Mr. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans, if any, she has to implement the recommendation of the competition and mergers review report that the office director of enforcement, in the Competition Authority, should be redefined with new powers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16498/00]
I published the Report of the Competition and Mergers Review Group on 4 May 2000. The group, which was chaired by Mr. Michael Collins SC, 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 review group, in a wide-ranging recommendation on the issue of the role of the Chairman, the Director of Competition Enforcement and a suggested procedure for dealing with competition cases, recommended, inter alia, that “The Director [of Competition Enforcement] shall be an officer of, and shall be appointed by, the Competition Authority but shall not be a member of the Authority”.
The report is a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the operation and application of all aspects of competition and mergers legislation. It has taken more than three years to compile and I do not propose to react in detail until I have had the opportunity to fully and carefully consider all the recommendations contained in it and their implications for competition law and policy in the State.
