A Bill designed to enforce competition law and clamp down on white-collar crime has been published by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton.
The Competition (Amendment) Bill 2011, which was published yesterday, is also aimed at reducing costs across the economy and creating jobs.
The Bill will introduce substantially bigger fines for those convicted of anti-competitive offences while potential prison sentences have been doubled.
A company or other body convicted of competition offences may also have to pay costs of investigation and court proceedings for the first time. The Bill will also make it possible for the first time to disqualify a person convicted of non-indictable competition offences from being a company director.
It will also be easier for private individuals affected by anti-competitive practices to prove an action for damages once public enforcement proceedings have successfully been taken.
Among the key elements are:
An increase in the level of fine for criminal conviction of hardcore offences from €4 million to €5 million;
The maximum imprisonment sentence on conviction on indictment of an offence relating to anti-competitive agreements, decisions and concerted practices is to be raised from five to 10 years;
An increase in the level of fine for summary conviction of certain competition offences from €3,000 to €5,000;
An increase in the maximum daily fine applicable to a continuing contravention from €300 to €500 in respect of a summary conviction and in the case of a conviction on indictment from €40,000 to €50,000.
Mr Bruton said he had signed an order to commence section 10 of the 2002 Competition Act, which provides measures to assist juries in considering complex financial and economic evidence during trials for breaches of competition law. Under the EU-IMF programme, the Government must strengthen enforcement of competition law by the end of this month. “We must work hard to reduce costs across the economy if we are to create an environment in Ireland in which job-creating businesses can start-up, grow and succeed,” he said.
