We advise clients on the application of Irish and EU competition law to all aspects of commercial behaviour. This includes advising on supply and distribution agreements, pricing, exclusive arrangements, licensing, online behaviour and commercial collaborations. We regularly assist clients in responding to information requests, complaints by competitors and sector inquiries.
We also advise clients on competition compliance, risk assessments, antitrust audits and training programmes.
We have a leading track record in Ireland in advising clients on antitrust investigations in a large number of sectors, including providing dawn raid support, challenging investigation procedures before the courts, defending investigations and advising on immunity/leniency and settlement programmes.
The Group has achieved big wins for clients in successfully challenging actions by competition authorities to ensure clients’ rights of defence are protected, including in CRH and others v. CCPC, which resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision on the scope of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s (“CCPC’s”) powers of search and seizure during dawn raids.
The firm has established a Dawn Raid Response Unit as a first-to-market offering in Ireland that provides a one-stop-shop crisis management solution for clients that are subject to dawn raids by any regulator in Ireland.
Relevant Experience
- Advising a client on a CCPC dawn raid and investigation in the gambling sector in Ireland.
- Advising a client on a CCPC dawn raid and investigation in the home alarm sector in Ireland.
- Advising Insurance Ireland on the European Commission investigation into its database, InsuranceLink.
- Advising CRH plc on a CCPC investigation into bagged cement in Ireland, including advising on a dawn raid.
- Advising clients on a range of other CCPC dawn raids and investigations in Ireland, including in relation to motor insurance and ticketing.
This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
