Compecon - Competition Economics News Update.
Home
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.
Home