Competition (Amendment) Act 2006 (No 4 of 2006)

1st January 2006 | Acts

The Competition (Amendment) Act 2006 was introduced to repeal the Restrictive Practices (Groceries) Order, 1987 which prohibited practices such as selling below net invoice price, boycotting and ‘hello’ money. Its removal sought to introduce greater competition into the grocery trade by allowing retailers freedom to determine the process which they charge their customers.

The 2006 Act also strengthens the existing provisions of the 2002 Act by prohibiting:

the imposition of resale price maintenance in regard the supply of grocery goods (resale price maintenance is the practice whereby manufacturers or suppliers specify the minimum prices at which their goods may be resold)
unfair discrimination in regard to the supply of grocery goods. This is a reference to a supplier offering preferential terms to one buyer over another even though the transactions involved are equivalent in nature
retailers or wholesalers of grocery goods from compelling or coercing suppliers into payment of advertising allowances (eg. where a retailer seeks payment from a supplier in order to advertise the supplier’s goods as a means of attracting customers to the retailer’s premises)
retailers from compelling or coercing suppliers into payment of ‘hello’ money (i.e. where a retailer demands a payment from a supplier before agreeing to stock that supplier’s products). The circumstances in which the practice will be prohibited include on the opening of a new store, an extension to an existing store or a change of ownership of a store.