News & Events

Minister announces further extension of ComReg's powers

27 April 2006

At the Inaugural National Telecoms Summit 2006 on 27 April 2006, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources announced a proposal to give ComReg concurrent competition law powers similar to the UK model.

This will allow ComReg to investigate and take action in issues such as an abuse of dominance and may further encourage and increase compliance in the electronic communications sector.

These proposals are being progressed within the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General. It is intended to bring these proposals to Government for approval along with the proposals for the Electronic Communications (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which are currently being drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel.

Both ComReg and the European Commission have cited the lack of punitive enforcement measures as an obstacle to the development of the Irish electronic communications market.The Electronic Communications (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill proposes to address this deficit.The Bill does not radically change ComReg's functions, but rather enhances and strengthens them within the existing framework.

Under the current regulatory package, serious breaches of the regulatory framework only attract a fine of €3,000 after summary conviction. There are no indictable offences as the regulatory framework was transposed pursuant to section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 which prohibits the introduction of indictable offences.  The Bill provides for increased penalties and more efficient prosecuting procedures for ComReg.

At present there is no provision for summary offences for failure to do or not do an action prescribed by ComReg in a direction.The Bill proposes to rectify this position which will provide ComReg with an additional enforcement tool. The Bill also introduces a number of new summary offencesand proposes also to increase the fine payable in respect of a summary offence from €3,000 to €5,000.

Similar to section 8(3) of the Competition Act 2002, the Bill contemplates that a separate offence will be deemed to be committed each day following the initial commission of an offence.  In this way, the Bill allowsforthe imposition of daily fines of €2,000 for such continuing breaches.The Bill also introduces a number of indictable offences for serious breaches with a potential fine of the greater of €4,000,000 or 10% of the turnover of the undertaking in the previous financial year. In addition, it expressly extends ComReg's powers of investigation and enforcement to incidents of overcharging.

The Irish Government expects that the enforcement powers proposed, with both civil and criminal remedies, will give ComReg the necessary muscle to enforce its regulatory decisions; thus encouraging greater compliance and supporting an improved regulatory environment.

If you have any queries about this information please contact:

Robert McDonagh         Tel: + 353 1 614 5077      Email: rmcdonagh@mhc.ie

This guidance note may also be downloaded as a PDF from the publications section.