Dublin, November, 2011. New Compecon merger report launched. 

This report analyses all of the key cases considered by the Authority over the period from July 2003 up to December 2010. The report analyses all 21 cases that were subject to a full (Phase 2) investigation along with a further 10 cases that were cleared following a preliminary (Phase 1) investigation but which raised some interesting economic issues. The report also includes an economic analysis of the EU Commission and EU General Court decisions in respect of the proposed Ryanair/Aer Lingus merger. The report summarises the key facts in each case and provides a critical economic analysis of the Authority’s Determination in the case. In some cases comparisons are made with merger decisions in other jurisdictions. The report summaries economic thinking on mergers and offers some broad conclusions on the Authority’s decisions. The report can be purchased from our on-line store.

Kenmare, 15th October, 2011. Lack of enforcement not sanctions the real problem with Irish competition law says Compecon Director Patrick Massey. 

Speaking at the Dublin Economics Workshop Annual Economic Policy Conference in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, Patrick Massey said that there was no need to increase the maximum jail sentence for cartel participants from five to ten years as proposed in the Competition Amendment Bill, 2011. Criminalisation of cartels had worked reasonably well. The real problem was the fact that the Authority had repeatedly stated that it could only bring one such case a year which meant that the chances of getting caught were close to zero. In those circumstances increased penalties were likely to have little deterrent effect. Click here to download.

Dublin 12th October, 2011, Minister publishes Legal Services Bill.

Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr. Alan Shatter TD , published the Legal Services Bill, 2011, which proposes to introduce major changes to the regulation of the legal profession. The Bill provides for the establishment of a new agency to be known as the Legal Services Regulatorty Authority which would be responsible for the regulation of the legal profession. Although the Bill was supposed to implement outstanding recommendations made in the Competition Authority's 2006 report on the legal profession, many of the proposals go well beyond what was recommended by the Authority.
 

Luxembourg, 4th October, 2011. ECJ judgment on sports broadcast rights has potentially far reaching implications. 

The judgment was in respect of a case referred by the High Court of England and Wales under Article 234EC regarding the live broadcast of football matches in the FA Premier League (FAPL). The FAPL had sought to prevent a number of pubs from showing live FAPL matches which were broadcast on a Greek TV channel.

Dublin, October, 2011. Study looks at impact of move to professionalism in rugby union.

A new study on the impact of professionalism in rugby union co-authored by Compecon Director Patrick Massey, Dr. Vincent Hogan of UCd and Shane Massey of Trinity College has been published in the UCD Economics Working paper series. Sports leagues and their members have often been permitteed to engage in activities such as collective selling of braodccasting rights which would not be permitted in other areas of business. Such arrangements have often been justified as promoting greater competitive balance thus making sports leagues more attractive to fans. The paper compares the level of competitive balance in the three main European rugby leagues - the English Premiership, French Top 14 and Magners League - and in soccers FA Premier League. The Bosman case means that there is a European labour market for players in both sports. The fact that soccer leageus are organised along national lines has meant that the best players have tended to move to the larger country leagues resulting in a growing competitive balance in both national leagues and European competitions. The lack of such restricitons in rugby has enabled the smaller countries to establish a joint league which has prevented Anglo/French dominantion of the Heineken Cup. Click here to download a copy of the working paper.  

Dublin June, 2011. Minister proposes competitive tendering of household waste collection services.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has announced his intention to establish monopoly franchises for household waste collection which would be allocated on the basis of a competitive tendering process. The Minister has published a consultation document on the proposal. Click here for further details.