Proposed new Irish laws: Competition, communications and consumer law

Ireland's Department of An Taoiseach (the Irish Prime Minister) has prepared its Spring 2022 Legislative Programme.

The Government Chief Whip, Jack Chambers TD, published the programme on 23 January 2022. While the Programme covers many possible laws, the key section relates to "priority legislation" – the legislation which the Government wishes to prioritise so, all things being equal, the laws which are most likely to be enacted.

See table below for what can be found in the programme from the perspectives of competition, consumer, regulatory and communications:

Priority legislation for Drafting and Publication in Spring 2022
Proposed law Purpose of the new Law
Agriculture and Food Supply Chain (Market Transparency) Bill To establish a new authority called the National Food Ombudsman to enforce the Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) directive and to have a specific role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland.
Competition (Amendment) Bill To provide for the reform of competition enforcement including the transposition of the ECN+ Directive which includes powers for competition authorities to avail of administrative/civil sanctions and leniency/immunity measures.
Consumer Rights Bill To give effect to EU Directive 770/2019 on consumer contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services, EU Directive 771/2019 on consumer contracts for the sale of goods, and to update and consolidate the statutory provisions on consumer rights and remedies in relation to contracts for the supply of non-digital services, unfair contract terms, and information and cancellation rights.
Investment Screening Bill To develop an Investment Screening Mechanism which will empower the Minister to respond to threats to Ireland's security and public order posed by particular types of foreign investment, and to prevent or mitigate such threats.
Communications Regulation (Enforcement) Bill   To update the civil and criminal enforcement regime for the Commission for Communications Regulation, to introduce new consumer protection measures for consumers of electronic communications services and amend Part 2, 3 and 5 of the Communications Regulation Act, 2002.
Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill To transpose the EU Whistleblowing Directive.

For more information on this topic please contact Dr Vincent Power, Partner or any member of A&L Goodbody's EU, Competition & Procurement team.

Date published: 25 January 2022