Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Bill which is another step towards ensuring the nation and the economy become more competitive. The EU-IMF agreement requires a number of structural reforms and strengthening our competition law and enforcement will form part of these changes.

The Bill deals with white collar crime and such offences must be prosecuted. This type of crime affects consumers and anti-competitive practices also have an effect on the economy and businesses through price fixing, cartels or abuse of a dominant position. In its annual reports the National Competitiveness Council points to the need to tackle anti-competitive practices, including sheltered professions.

The provisions of the Bill strengthen the 2002 Act and introduce new measures. The Competition Act 2002 provides for sanctions and the Bill will strengthen these. The maximum prison sentence on conviction of an offence will be increased from five years to ten years. As the Minister stated, a body convicted of competition offences will pay some of the costs associated with the very lengthy and costly investigations that can occur. The Minister outlined how it will be easier for individuals to take a case against anti-competitive practices and this will go some way towards tackling non-hardcore offences.

Many people have contacted us with regard to the content of the Bill. We are aware of headline offences such as cartel practices and price fixing and the Competition Authority has had some success in tackling these. This is the body responsible for implementing the legislation and ensuring anti-competitive offences are tackled. Non-hardcore offences such as abuse of a dominant position or an agreement between competitors to share commercially sensitive information must also be tackled. Other such offences include trying to influence a company's behaviour through dictating the price of products to a retailer, predatory pricing, exclusive dealing, making the sale of one good conditional on the sale of another and refusal to supply an order to eliminate a trader or retailer.

The Competition Authority report was published two weeks ago and outlined a number of cases brought to its attention. It becomes aware of cases through its investigations or through people making complaints to it. Last year it dealt with 212 cases, of which 99 were resolved at source and 113 continue to be assessed. Many complaints were made about petrol and diesel prices with allegations of price fixing. However, when the Competition Authority investigated the matter, it found that it came down to competitors in an area checking each other's prices and matching or bettering them. This is probably a good thing for consumers so not all cases are anti-competitive.

The provisions of the Bill deal with non-hardcore offences and will make it easier to ensure convictions. Many non-hardcore offences are resolved voluntarily, although cases can go to court. The difficult cases involve cartels and price fixing and these do go to court and can end up in criminal convictions. These cases are very difficult to investigate as much secrecy can be involved and they require time, expense and expertise as the burden of proof in criminal cases is beyond reasonable doubt.

The Competition Authority held a conference last autumn on its perception of the need for civil fines because there is a gap in this area. The Minister clarified this in his contribution. On the advice of the Attorney General it would not be in keeping with Article 38.1 of the Constitution.

This House recently debated the Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill 2011 and we expect the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011 to come before the House shortly. These Bills represent steps to ensure competition in the medical and legal services areas. We are beginning to tackle the sheltered professions which are always the target of the Competition Authority to ensure consumers, businesses and the economy can benefit from these competitive measures.