Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 175:

In page 117, after line 17, to insert the following:

“PART 8

AMENDMENT OF NATIONAL STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF IRELAND ACT 1996

Amendment of section 12 of National Standards Authority of Ireland Act 1996

40. Section 12 of the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act 1996 is amended— (a) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “this section” for “subsection (1)”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (2):

“(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Authority shall, subject to the consent of the Minister, have power to charge, receive and recover such fees as it considers appropriate from any person, other than the Minister, in respect of, or connected with, the performance by it of any of its functions, including functions provided for in—

(a) this Act or regulations made under this Act, or

(b) regulations made under the European Communities Act 1972.

(4) Any fee charged, received or recovered by the Authority under subsection (1) prior to the commencement of section 43* of the Competition (Amendment) Act 2022 shall be deemed to have been so charged, received or recovered in accordance with this section.

(5) The Authority may recover, as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction, any amount due and owing to it by any person under this section.”.”.

Amendment No. 175 is an amendment I flagged on Second Stage. It is a technical amendment to the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act 1996, which governs the operations of the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI. The proposed amendment will modernise the language in section 12 of the Act that enables NSAI to charge fees for its activities and for the services that it provides. The proposed amendment will not make any substantive changes to the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act. It does not seek to alter or increase the level of any of the fees charged – it is purely to improve and modernise the language of the fee-charging provision, and to align it with similar provisions for other State agencies.

The revised text in this proposed amendment will update the Act to facilitate NSAI in charging fees across the broad range of its activities, which include, for example, issuing standards, providing certification, CE-marking approval work, and metrology services, including approving measuring instruments. There is no impact on the Exchequer as a result of this amendment given its purely technical nature.

Amendments Nos. 176 and 177 are to expand the Long Title of the Bill to take into account the inclusion of clarification both the statute of limitations on enforcement actions taken by the CCPC on competition matters and the aforementioned introduction of an amendment to the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act 1996.