Compecon - Competition Economics News
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1st September. Article advocates
reform of Ireland's merger review regime. The Competition Authority needs to review its merger procedures. This is
the main conclusion of an article by Compecon director, Patrick Massey,
published in the latest edition of the Journal of Competition Law &
Economics. The article found that the Authority has tended to rely on
qualitative rather than quantitative evidence to an excessive degree. In some
instances, most notably its treatment of efficiencies, it argues that the
Authority's analysis is inconsistent with economic theory. The article recommends
that the Authority should introduce additional checks and balances in its
merger review process and revisit the question of efficiencies.
It also suggests that the legislation should be amended to reduce the number of
unnecessary notifications and provide third
parties with a right of appeal in merger cases. The article is available at http://jcle.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/recent
Dublin 30th July. Bus company wins judicial review
challenge against Transport Minister. The
High Court found in favour of Swords Express which had challenged the validity
of a decision by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey regarding bus services between
Swords and Dublin city centre. Swords Express were
awarded a licence to operate an express service between Swords and the city via
the Port Tunnel. Dublin Bus subsequently altered the route of its 41X peak hour
express service to operate via the tunnel. Under section 25 of the Transport
Act, 1958, Dublin Bus may not operate services in competition with licensed
operators without the Minister's consent. The Minister had decided that the
services were not in competition but this was overturned by the Court. Compecon
advised Swords Express.
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.
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