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

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, line 7, after “1996;” to insert “to amend the Competition Act 2002;”.

This amendment relates to the Long Title of the Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014 and seeks to provide for amendment to the Competition Act 2002, as amended by the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014.

Amendment No. 2 contains a number of technical and consequential amendments to the Competition Act 2002. Section 22(4B) of the Act, which was inserted by section 59 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, is being amended to provide for the conformity of time limits relating to the consideration of any proposals from notifying parties in the context of a final determination in respect of a merger notification. The amendment to section 28B(2)(b), inserted by section 74 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, provides 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. This is to preserve the ability of the Minister to request further information from parties to a merger and to stop the clock until such time as the request is met.

The opportunity is being availed of to correct an inadvertent incorrect cross-reference in section 28E(13)(b), inserted by section 74 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, while consequential amendments provide for clarification of treatment of media mergers notified during the interim period between 31 October 2014, when Part 4 of the Act came into effect, and these amendments coming into effect. Definitions of the Competition Acts are also provided for by this amendment.

Amendment No. 4 incorporates a proposed amendment to the Competition Act 2002, as made by the amendment inserting a new section 4 referred to earlier, into the collective citation Competition Acts 2002 to 2014 and that they should be construed as one Act.

The amendments are mainly technical.

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