Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 177, Standing Order 131 is modified to permit an instruction to the Committee to which the Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014 may be recommitted in respect of certain amendments, for which it has power to make provision in the Bill to amend the Competition Act 2002 to provide for-(a) a technical amendment to section 22(4B) (inserted by section 59 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014) to provide for conformity of time limits in relation to the consideration of any proposals from notifying parties in the context of a final determination in relation to a merger notification;

(b) an amendment to section 28B(2)(b) (inserted by section 74 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014) to provide that a media merger notification to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources may only happen after the determination process undertaken by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has concluded;

(c) an amendment to section 28E(13)(b) (inserted by section 74 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014) to correct an inadvertent incorrect cross reference; and

(d) consequential amendments to provide for clarification of treatment of media mergers notified before the above amendments come into effect and to clarify definitions of the Competition Acts, and associated collective citations and construction;and to change the Title of the Bill to take account of these provisions.

I am introducing three amendments to the Competition Act 2002 to deal with two minor issues that have emerged in the implementation of the media mergers parts of the amendment to that Act introduced under the recently enacted Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014. I referred to these on Second Stage and a briefing on these specific amendments was provided to Deputies on Committee Stage. I am happy to facilitate these on the basis that they deal with a number of technical issues that emerged during the implementation of this Act.

In effect, there are two separate sets of amendments being introduced today. The first relates to section 28B(2)(b) and the process around the notification to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources of a merger. As it stands, the Act allows parties to notify the Minister immediately after they have notified the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC. However, while the Act gives the Minister 30 days from the end of the CCPC process or European Commission process - whichever applies - to complete his or her initial examination, the Act also currently allows, under section 28D(9), for the Minister to effectively stop the clock on the process while he or she waits on further information from parties. However, the ability of the Minister to do this is contingent at present on the date of notification rather than the end of the CCPC or European Commission process. This means the situation could theoretically arise that the Minister could lose the ability to request further information while suspending the time limits, given that he or she cannot actually commence examination of the merger until after the end of the previous part of the process. This amendment, to section 28B(2)(b), clarifies that notification can now only occur after the end of the CCPC or European Commission processes, thus removing the possibility that the Minister might be deprived of the ability to require further information of parties with the appropriate protections.

There is also an amendment to section 22(4B), as inserted by section 59 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, which ensures that in circumstances where parties submit proposals to the CCPC, the later timelines and the process are unaffected. Importantly, this amendment has no effect on the length of the process that parties must go through. It merely ensures that the process remains robust and coherent throughout.

The second set relates to a single amendment to section 28E(13)(b), and corrects a reference to a subsection, from subsection (8) to subsection (7). This is a drafting error in the text and this change ensures that the phase 1 and phase 2 assessment can operate in the same manner.

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