On 3 July 2012, Ireland's Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, signed a Commencement Order which brought into force the provisions of the Competition (Amendment) Act 2012 ("the Act"). The new legislation, initially proposed in September 2011 (see VBB on Competition Law, Vol 2011, No 9, available at www.vbb.com), is intended to bolster the powers of the Irish Competition Authority and to reinforce the general enforcement of competition law, particularly in relation to fines.
The Act increases the maximum fines for criminal convictions resulting from hard-core offences from € 4 million to € 5 million. Fines for summary convictions for certain competition offences are increased from € 3,000 to € 5,000. The maximum daily penalty for continuing contraventions of orders have risen from € 300 to € 500 for summary convictions and from € 40,000 to € 50,000 for convictions on indictment.
The Act also provides that jail sentences for criminal convictions relating to anti-competitive agreements and practices shall be doubled from 5 to 10 years and makes it possible for the first time to disqualify a person convicted of non-indictable competition offences from being a company director.
The new legislation specifically allows for interim, interlocutory and permanent injunctions as relief, and includes provisions for convicted parties bearing the costs of court cases and investigations. The Act enables commitments given by undertakings to the Competition Authority to be made rules of court (i.e. made legally enforceable). Importantly, it also eases the burden of proof for private plaintiffs seeking to initiate a follow-on damages action after public enforcement proceedings where a court determines that an undertaking has engaged in prohibited conduct or practices.
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