The Competition Authority has published its fifth Annual Report for the period ending 31st December, 1995 which includes lists of decisions made and notifications received and dealt with in 1995. During 1995, 38 notifications were received. This figure is comparable with the one for 1994 but considerably smaller than for earlier years.
Points of interest from the 1995 Report include:
Franchise Agreements - A number of decisions approved the terms of franchise agreements by applying the Category Licence. However, in many cases this was done only after amendment of offending provisions, including ones which:-
- Restricted the freedom of the franchisee to set its own prices;
- Restricted the franchisee from employing persons employed by other franchisees or the franchiser during the term of the agreement and/or after its termination;
- Restricted the franchisee from competing or soliciting customers, for a period in excess of one year after termination of the agreement;
- Restricted the franchisee from competing outside its territory after termination of the agreement; and
- Restricted the use by the franchisee of certain confidential information, trade names, trade marks, etc., after termination of the agreement, where these had come into the public domain.
Intellectual Property Agreements - An important decision concerns standard agreements relating to the assignment of copyright and musical works by individual creators and publishers to the IMRO. Before granting a licence for 15 years the Authority required amendment of the agreements to remove conditions relating to the grant back of a non-exclusive licence. Another interesting decision relates to the approval of standard agreements permitting the use of copyright musical works for public performance.
Banking Agreements - The Authority approved for operation the Cheque Card Committee's arrangements for cheque guarantee cards; the Clearing Rules of the Dublin Bankers' Clearing Committee; the Rules and Originators Guide for the Direct Debiting Scheme of the Direct Debiting Committee and licensed the Eurocheque System even though it believed the setting of commission rates to be contrary to Section 4(1) of the Competition Act, 1991.
Irish League of Credit Unions' Rules - The Authority issued a certificate approving the ILCU's membership requirements even though the Rules require members to take out life savings and loan protection insurance with a wholly owned subsidiary of ILCU.
Adidas/FAI - The Authority issued a certificate approving an exclusive supply agreement for the supply of sportswear to the Irish international soccer teams. The agreement precluded the FAI from entering into a similar arrangement during its term and conferred on Adidas the exclusive right to market replicas of the Irish international soccer teams' sportswear bearing the official FAI crest. The agreement was justified as being limited in time and open to competition from other suppliers at regular intervals.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
