High Court grants certiorari and quashes decision taken against the Competition Authority regarding the Authority’s conduct in an on-going cartel investigation Background It follows from Article 45(2) and (3) of the Irish Competition Act 2002 (the Act) that the Competition Authority (the NCA) (...)

Introduction The Irish National Competition Authority ("NCA") delivered a report on competition in the dental sector on 3 October 2007. This report forms part of a wider study on eight professions in the construction, legal and medical sectors of the economy conducted by the NCA following a (...)

Background The basic Irish domestic competition law provisions mirror Articles 81 and 82 of the EC treaty. Since the coming into force of Regulation 1/2003, the “modernisation regulation”, Articles 81 and 82 EC, as well as the domestic competition provisions which replicate them, are applied by (...)

Background The facts of this action have been set out in detail in a previous e-Competitions Bulletin. Therefore, they will only be briefly called in this contribution. The Irish Medical Organisation (‘IMO’) is an association of undertakings that represents some 2,000 General Practitioners in (...)

The present case is the first appeal against a High Court decision on substantive competition law matters to come before the Irish Supreme Court. The plaintiff in this case, the National Competition Authority (NCA), initiated this action before the High Court in accordance with the powers (...)

Background to the dispute All key players in the Irish Beef Industry benefited from support in the form of intervention pricing, private storage aid and export refunds under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) following Ireland’s accession to the then EEC. Following the structural reform of (...)

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, 24 January 2007, Director of Public Prosecutions v. Corrib Oil Company Limited, not published Sonya McLean, Corrib Oil fined €15,000 for role in price-fixing cartel, The Irish Times, 24 January 2007 This case puts an end to procedures initiated at the behest of (...)

Competition in the Private Health Insurance Market, Irish National Competition Authority Report, January 2007 (Executive summary) Context The Irish private healthcare market is conditioned by the aim it pursues, namely intergenerational solidarity. Intergenerational solidarity demands that (...)

The Irish National Competition Authority (hereinafter NCA) drafted a submission entitled “Towards a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland” in response to the publication of a Green Paper of the same name by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. According to this Green (...)

The Irish Medical Council was established by legislative act in 1978 with, according to its website, a view to “protecting the interests of the public when dealing with registered practitioners”. In this regard, its principal duties are as follows; it guarantees the quality of both undergraduate (...)

The Competition (Amendment) Bill 2005 (hereinafter “the Bill”) has been drafted with a view to fulfilling a twofold purpose ; firstly, it will revoke the antiquated Groceries Order 1987 and secondly, it aims to strengthen certain existing elements of the Competition Act, 2002 in order to prevent (...)

The mobile telecommunications market in Ireland has been consistently dominated by two key players, Eircom and Vodafone with Meteor, a third operator, featuring in a distant third position. However, despite Eircom’s overall superior position on the mobile telecommunications market, it lags (...)

On the 30th of August, 2005 the Irish National Competition Authority (hereinafter “NCA”) delivered its findings following an investigation conducted pursuant to consumer allegations of abusive pricing practices in the field of household waste collection services and of a lack of competition in (...)

The terms of a settlement agreement, reached between the Irish National Competition Authority (hereinafter “NCA”) and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (henceforth “IHCA”), were published by the former in a press release issued on the 28th September, 2005. In February 2003, the NCA (...)

The National Competition Authority has rejected allegations that TicketMaster (hereinafter “TicketMaster”) Ireland is abusing its dominant position through excessive pricing and that its exclusive contractual relations with certain promoters constitute infringements of Art 81 EC and its domestic (...)

Section 30 of the Competition Act, 2002 mandates the Irish Competition Authority (hereinafter “NCA”) to advise government ministers on issues arising in the course of their functions which have an impact on competition. In light of this provision, the NCA responded to the Minster for Enterprise’s (...)

Irish National Competition Authority, Press Release, 13 June, 2005 The Irish National Competition Authority (henceforth “NCA”) took the opportunity in June, 2005 to comment on the proposed reform of the liquor licensing regime to be introduced by the Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2005 (hereinafter (...)

On May 11, 2005 the National Competition Authority (hereinafter NCA) settled a long-standing case against the Vintners Federation of Ireland (henceforth VFI) ,which has been pending before the High Court since it’s initiation in 1998, concerning alleged alcohol price-fixing by the trade (...)

Irish National Competition Authority, 28 April 2005, Irish Dental Association (Press relase) On April 28, 2005 the Irish High Court action initiated by the National Competition Authority (henceforth “NCA”) against the Irish Dental Association (hereinafter “IDA”) was settled. The NCA alleged that (...)

The Irish National Competition Authority (hereinafter “NCA”) has issued its report and recommendations on enhancing competition in the non-life insurance sector. The recommendations aim to reduce the cost of switching insurer and/or intermediary and to tackle structural and legal barriers to (...)

In this well-known case, published for the seek of completness (See J. Derenne and T. Seidenspinner, “The English Court of appeal applies Art. 81 EC and award damages for breach of EC law (Crehan)”, e-Competitions, April 2005, n° 204) , the claimant, Mr. B. Crehan, appealed against the judgment (...)

Irish High Court, 5 April 2001, Meridian Communication Limited and Cellular Three Telecommunications Limited, v. Eircell Limited ; [2002] 1 IR 17 Irish Supreme Court, 10 May 2001, Meridian Communication Limited and Cellular Three Telecommunications Limited, v. Eircell Limited ; [2001] IESC (...)

Irish High Court, 30 July 1997, Chanelle Veterinary Limited v. Pfizer (Ireland) Limited and Pfizer Animal Health Irish Supreme Court, 11 February 1999, Chanelle Veterinary Limited v. Pfizer (Ireland) Limited and Pfizer Animal Health [1999] 1 IR 365 Facts of the case The plaintiff, Chanelle (...)

Competition Act 1998 Enterprise Act 2002 Introduction Prior to the enactment of two key pieces of legislation, namely the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002, the UK competition law regime was often criticised. Firstly, it was accused of being unnecessarily formalistic. Indeed, (...)

Summary of the relevant facts The plaintiffs worked as electrical contractors in the South of Ireland. Their work primarily involved the installation of different types of electrical plaint equipment in private residences and on farms. In other words, they provided electrical contracting (...)

Facts In the present case, the plaintiffs were trustees of a religious order and, in that capacity, owned a private hospital. They initiated a series of actions before the High Court, which were later joined, contesting, inter alia, the inclusion of their hospital in the defendant’s health (...)

Facts HB Ice-Cream Ltd., hereinafter HB, was an ice-cream manufacturer in Ireland which exerted considerable market power. HB had concluded contracts with many Irish retailers which included a so-called “exclusivity clause”; this clause stipulated that HB would provide the retailers with (...)

The present cases concerns an order for interim measures sought by Argyll Group Plc in order to prevent the proposed merger of Guinness and the “Distillers Company Plc (hereinafter “DCL”). Although the purpose of Argyll’s request was merely to obtain the provisional prevention of the Guinness/DCL (...)

In the present case, the applicant sought the extension until trial or further order of an interim injunction granted ex parte against the defendants. This application was accepted by the trial judge, Sir Neil Lawson J., for reasons which will be set out presently. Before proceeding to the (...)

In the present judgment, rendered in 1984, the English High Court (Queen’s Bench Divisional Court) effectively relied on the direct effect of the then Art 86 EEC (now Art 82 EC) in order to allow a privately owned co-operative organisation to challenge the compatibility of decisions taken by the (...)

Factual background The second defendant undertaking in this case, Dairy Disposal, is an undertaking which, under the watchful eye of the Minister for Agriculture, disposes of significant statutory powers to acquire privately owned creameries and to possibly transfer them to co-operative (...)