S.I. No. 137/1999 - Competition Authority (Witness Summons) Regulations, 1999

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 23 (1) of the Competition Act, 1991 (No. 24 of 1991) (as adapted by the Enterprise and Employment (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 ( S.I. No. 305 of 1997 )), hereby make the following regulations:

1.

• (2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 27th day of May, 1999.

2.

“proposed witness” means the person to whom a witness summons is addressed;

“witness summons” means a summons referred to in paragraph 7 of the Schedule to the Competition Act, 1991 (No. 24 of 1991);

“working day” means a day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday.

3.

• (a) the date on which, and the time and place at which, the proposed witness is required to attend,

• (b) the matter or matters (in general terms) in connection with which the Authority requires the proposed witness to attend,

and,

• (c) the particular document or documents or the type or class of documents (if any) which the Authority requires the proposed witness to produce to it,

and shall be in the form set out in the Schedule to these Regulations (or in a form as near thereto as possible).

• (2) The date specified in a witness summons on which the proposed witness is required to attend at the place concerned shall not be a date that is earlier than 10 working days from the date of service upon him or her of the summons.

4.

• (a) by delivering it to the person,

• (b) by leaving it—

• (i) at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or at which he or she is employed or carries on business, or

• (ii) in a case where the person concerned is employed by a company, at the registered office of the company, or

• (iii) in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address,

• (c) by sending it by prepaid ordinary post—

• (i) to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or at which he or she is employed or carries on business, or

• (ii) in a case where the person concerned is employed by a company, to the registered office of the company, or

• (iii) in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address,

• (2) A witness summons shall be deemed to have been served—

• (a) in a case to which either paragraph (1)(a) or (1)(b) of this Regulation applies, on the date on which service is effected,

• (b) in a case to which paragraph (1)(c) of this Regulation applies, unless proved otherwise, on the date on which the summons would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post.

5.

6.

SCHEDULE COMPETITION AUTHORITY

WITNESS SUMMONS

TO: [Insert here the name and address of the proposed witness]

You are hereby required to attend in person before the Competition Authority at ............................................................ .. on the ............... day of .................., 19 ................ /20 ............... at ........... o'clock in the ......... noon for the purpose of being examined on oath in relation to

• (a) an investigation by the Authority or the Director of Competition Enforcement under the Competition Act, 1991 , as amended [specify statutory provision authorising investigation and nature of the investigation] ¹

• (b) a notification to the Authority under section 7 of the Competition Act, 1991 , as amended [describe briefly the notification]¹

• (c) a study by the Authority under section 11 of the Competition Act, 1991 , as amended [describe briefly nature of the study]¹

• (d) an investigation by the Authority consequent upon a referral to it by the Minister under section 7 of the Mergers, Take-overs and Monopolies (Control) Act, 1978 , as amended, of a notification under section 5 of that Act [describe briefly the nature of the investigation]¹

You are hereby further required to bring with you and produce the following documents [describe documents].¹

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to paragraph 7(2) of the Schedule to the Competition Act, 1991 , you will, as a witness before the Authority, be entitled to the same immunities and privileges as if you were a witness before the High Court.

AND FURTHER TAKE NOTICE that, paragraph 7(4) of the Schedule to the Competition Act, 1991 provides that any person who—

• (a) on being duly summoned as a witness before the Authority makes default in attending, or

• (b) being in attendance as a witness refuses to take an oath legally required by the Authority to be taken, or to produce any document in his power or control legally required by the Authority to be produced by him, or to answer any question to which the Authority may legally require an answer, or

• (c) does any other thing which would, if the Authority were a court, having power to commit for contempt of court, be contempt of court, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and imprisonment.

Dated the ........... day of 19 .......... /20 ..........

Signed ..........................

Member of the Authority

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations are to prescribe a procedure to allow the Competition Authority to summons witnesses, under the Competition Act 1991 and the Competition (Amendment) Act 1996 , and will come into effect on the 27th day of May, 1999.

Footnotes