Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I understand this matter relates to an investigation conducted by the Competition Authority from March 2003 to June 2004 regarding possible price fixing among self-employed actors and advertising agencies. An agreement between Irish Actors Equity SIPTU, on behalf of the actors, and the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland, on behalf of advertising agencies, provided for both specific fees for services rendered and various other terms and conditions. Following the authority's investigation, Irish Actors Equity and the institute signed undertakings in which they agreed not to fix fees and to comply with the provisions of the Competition Act.

In August 2004 the Competition Authority published a decision note explaining its decision and published the acknowledgement and undertakings made to it by both Irish Actors Equity SIPTU and the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland. The authority's findings centred on the fact that section 4 of the Competition Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, decisions and concerted practices. Section 4 applies when "undertakings" are engaged in arrangements which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition in trade in any goods or services in the State.

Section 3 of the Act defines an "undertaking" as "a person being an individual, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons engaged for gain in the production, supply or distribution of goods or the provision of a service". This definition has been in use in Irish competition law for some time and is supported by EU case law. To establish a breach of section 4 of the Act, the authority must demonstrate that there is an agreement, decision or concerted practice; that the parties to that agreement, decision or concerted practice are undertakings; and that the object or effect of the agreement, decision or concerted practice is to prevent, restrict or distort competition.

In this case, I understand that the parties did not dispute the existence of an agreement. The agreement was contained in a document entitled 2002 Agreement on Minimum Fees Effective from 1 October 2002. The institute did not contest that it was an association of undertakings and that its members were undertakings in their own right. The issue the authority then considered was whether actors were "undertakings" and whether Irish Actors Equity was an "association of undertakings" for the purposes of the Act.

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