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Luxembourg 6th July. EU General Court upholds Commission decision to prohibit Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus. The EU General Court rejected an appeal by Ryanair against the EU Commission decision prohibiting it from acquiring control of its Irish airline rival Aer Lingus. In a separate judgment the Court rejected an appeal by Aer Lingus against a Commission decision that it could not compel Ryanair to dispose of its 29% shareholding in Aer Lingus. Click here for more.

Dublin 4th July. Compecon report finds that proposed free-to-air broadcasting of big rugby games could harm Irish rugby. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources sought views from interested parties regarding his proposal that Ireland's matches in the Six Nations Championship and all games involving Irish teams in the Heineken Cup should be broadcast live on free-to-air television channels. A detailed submission prepared by Compecon found that the proposal would result in a significant loss of revenue to the IRFU with consequent negative effects on Irish teams' ability to recruit and retain top quality players. Click here for more.

Dublin 21st April. CER sets out route map for deregulation of household electricity market.  The energy regulator published its proposals for the removal of electricity price controls for household and SME customers. The CER has decided that price controls should remain for household customers until the ESB’s market share falls to 60%. It has also directed ESB to re-brand its supply business. The decision follows publication of a consultation document on 2nd December 2009. Click here for more.

London 30th March. OFT announces £28.59m fine for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The fine was imposed as a result of RBS of employees in one of the bank’s divisions disclosing confidential future pricing information to their counterparts at Barclays Bank. According to the OFT, there was evidence that Barclays had taken this information into account in determining its own pricing. Click here for more.

Luxembourg, 4th March ECJ Strikes Down Ireland’s Minimum Price Regime for Tobacco Products. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Irish legislation fixing minimum retail prices for tobacco products was in breach of EU law. The judgment triggered calls by anti-smoking groups  for  the Government  to  increase taxes  on  tobacco  products  to  keep cigarette  prices  high  in  order  to discouraging  smoking. Click here for more.

Dublin 21st December, 2009. High Court Rules Local Authorities Abused Dominant Position. The High Court found that the four Dublin local authorities had abused their dominant position in seeking to alter the regulations for waste collection. Panda, a private waste collection firm, brought the case claiming that the Councils were seeking to exclude private firms from providing waste collection services.

London 21st December, 2009. Competition Appeals Tribunal Overturns Competition Commission Break-up of UK Airports. The Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) upheld an appeal by the British Airports Authority (BAA) against an order by the Competition Commission (CC) requiring it to sell off a number of its airports. The decision was overturned on the grounds of a possible conflict of interest by one of the members of the CC panel which conducted the airport investigation. In March the CC ordered BAA which owns seven UK airports to divest itself of Stansted and Gatwick Airports in London and of either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport in Scotland. The Commission found that BAA's ownership of these airports along with its ownership of London Heathrow and Southampton Airports and Aberdeen Airport in Scotland meant that there was no competition between airports in the South East of England and Scotland.

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