Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Chair and members of the committee for facilitating Committee Stage today, as well as for facilitating the time change. I thank all members for their support for the Bill at pre-legislative scrutiny and on Second Stage in the Dáil.

As members are all aware, this Bill is long, and it is complex legislation. The purpose of the Bill is to give effect to Directive 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018, to empower the competition authorities of the member states to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the Internal Market.

The ECN+ directive is intended to ensure effective and consistent application of the EU laws with close co-operation by its members. The ECN+ directive builds on the framework laid down in the EU regulation that sets up the ECN, namely, EU Regulation 1/2003 on the implementation of the rules and competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

This Bill will implement one item from the programme for Government when it puts in place a new legal regime that allows the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, and the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, to use administrative financial sanctions when dealing with infringements of competition law. The Bill will strengthen the powers of the State in tackling white-collar crime, economic crime and corruption as part of the response to the Hamilton report, which was published by the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, in December 2020.

Since the publication of the Bill, some small errors have emerged, as have places where more precision or technical language should be used. Also, other legislation that currently is being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, references similar terms. It is the view of the Office of the Attorney General and of my Department, that standardising language across legislation that deals with the same principles and subject matter is extremely important.

Undertakings are dealing with an increasing number of regulations and legislation. While this is better for society as a whole, it has never been the intention of my Department to introduce legislation that would needlessly hinder undertakings from operating. It does not make sense to have different terminology across legislation drafted at the same time, and dealing with many of the same issues, except where a case can be made for its necessity.

As these legislative items that deal with similar matters are at a more nascent stage than this Bill, the need to standardise terms only became apparent in recent weeks. I believe it is important to deal with these grammatical, technical and clarifying amendments in order that undertakings can better understand the rights and obligations that are being introduced in this legislation.

There are also more substantive amendments being introduced on Committee Stage. I will give more explanation for the reasons and rationales behind them when we reach them.