Professionals face increased scrutiny

BANKS, insurers, lawyers and doctors will face increased scrutiny in a bid to bring benefits to consumers, the Competition Authority said yesterday.

Chairperson John Fingleton said a comprehensive approach to competition policy would boost the competitiveness of the Irish economy, adding the authority would aim to build on its performance last year.

Speaking at the launch of its annual report, Dr Fingleton said 2003 was the authority’s first full year of operation under new legislation governing competition and was a busy year as a result. The authority took over responsibility for supervising merger activity from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It received notifications of 47 mergers during the year. Eleven of these related to mergers between media organisations.

The authority also began legal proceedings to enforce competition law in five cases. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) took steps to launch a criminal case after the authority referred a file to the DPP’s office.

Three studies on anti-competitive practices were progressed by the authority during the year. The authority recently published a preliminary report and consultation paper on the non-life insurance market and will publish a final report later this year.

The level of competition in the banking sector was the subject of a background analysis paper published in August. The authority plans to complete a detailed assessment of personal current accounts and loans to small and medium businesses, which will be published during 2004. The study “will have wider applications in the Irish banking sector,” according to the authority.

The authority also conducted an analysis of eight professions, including engineers, architects, solicitors, barristers and medical practitioners.

Dr Fingleton said the year ahead would be likely to see a full cartel investigation that would lead to criminal enforcement proceedings. He also predicted a small number of mostly civil investigations as well as submissions on new legislation or policy developments.