As a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation I was pleased to see the establishment this week of the new Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. The Commission will have increased powers and replaces the Competition Authority and National Consumer Agency.
The new Commission has been created with the passing of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act. I spoke in the Dáil at the second stage of this bill and noted that it represents “an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the recent past and ensure we have an organisation in the competition and consumer protection commission which is able to raise issues, publicise them, act on behalf of consumers and play an important role in finding and implementing solutions or advocating changes to legislation”.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is a single powerful watchdog, with a wide range of consumer, competition and criminal law powers. Some of the increased powers provided for under the new legislation include prohibition notices, compliance notices, on-the-spot fines for incorrect or misleading price displays, and naming and shaming where the trader has failed to comply with consumer law.
It is particularly welcome that the Commission will be providing guidelines for small and medium sized businesses who want to engage in consortium bidding for public tender contracts. This will make valuable public contracts more accessible to SMEs in all areas of the country.
Over the past number of years people have really come to appreciate the value of money and consumers should always be treated in a fair and an appropriate way. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission will help to create open and competitive markets where consumers are protected and able to assert their rights when they need to.
More information on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is available at www.ccpc.ie/