THE Competition Authority has sanctioned an anti competitive agreement involving the ESB because it feels the deal will be in the best interests of public safety.
The agreement is just one of more than 1,000 which the authority has completed since it was established in late 1991.
The authority said yesterday it had granted a licence permitting an agreement between the ESB and the Register of Electrical Contractors of Ireland (RECI), whereby the ESB will only connect electrical installations to the supply grid if they have been certified by an RECI member or inspector.
The authority said that, in its view, the agreement was anti competitive, but it should be permitted because it contributed to improved levels of safety.
The authority said it noted that the ESB had indicated it was prepared to accept certification by bodies similar to RECI "and that RECI had amended a number of its rules to allay concern that smaller firms might have been excluded from membership".
A group of contractors took a case to the High Court regarding the issue, and the matter is now on appeal to the Supreme Court.
Mr Patrick Massey, a member of the Competition Authority, said yesterday that the authority sanctioned very few agreements which were anti competitive. He said there was a section in competition legislation which allowed for such agreements, provided they were for the common good.
The authority also said yesterday that it had issued a certificate regarding distribution agreements between Premier Dairies and milk roundsmen, indicating such agreements were not anti competitive.
The certificates were issued after Premier had sent letters to the roundsmen clarifying that, under the terms of the agreement, they were free to set their own prices in respect of milk and other products they deliver.
The authority has dealt with 1,005 agreements to date, a figure described by its chairman, Mr Patrick Lyons, as "a significant landmark".
The authority has been involved in several high profile cases involving competition law and mergers and monopolies since its inception.
These include a finding that Independent Newspapers' acquisition of a share in Irish Press Newspapers was an abuse of a dominant position, and a recommendation that the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, should block a proposed deal involving Statoil taking over Jet. The latter is currently under appeal.
Meanwhile, the authority will get considerably stronger powers later this year, when amendments to the Competition Act are passed into law. The new Act will include powers to prosecute companies that breach competition law.
