A judge has ordered the Competition Authority to return documentation it seized from the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) as part of a continuing investigation into alleged price-fixing.
The authority had sought a six-month extension of a search warrant which allowed it to seize documents as part of the investigation into the charging of fixed fees to life assurance companies for patient histories and medical examinations before insurance policies are taken out.
Judge James McDonnell said he was not satisfied the Competition Act prevented a life assurance company from nominating a single provider of a service - preparation of a medical report on a patient - to the exclusion of all other providers.
"I do not understand how the provisions of the Competition Act come into play in those circumstances," he said.
He ordered the authority to hand back to the IMO any material specifically relating to charges for patient histories and said he would only grant a further detention of the other material for four months instead of six.
Dublin District Court heard the documents - three boxes of paper files and a computer hard disk - had been seized last April from the IMO, which represents 85 per cent of GPs. There were 341 exhibits in all, and a forensic examination of the computer hard disk was continuing.
Vanessa Fenton, a solicitor and authorised officer of the authority, said the investigation centred on fees charged by life assurance companies for medical histories, or patient medical attendance reports (PMARs). The inquiry is also dealing with the alternative to PMARs, a full medical examination, which insurance companies can also request before a policy is sanctioned.
If only one individual provided such a service and then a life assurance company charged a policy-holder auncompetitive premium, this could be in breach of competition law, Ms Fenton said.
A team of investigators were employed in this case which also involves interviews with a number of people not associated with the IMO. These were expected to take another 2½ months to complete, Ms Fenton said.
It was expected it would take another six months before the investigation was finalised and a recommendation as to whether the case should proceed made.
The IMO's counsel said the six months the authority had already had was sufficient, and no good reason for extending the detention of the documents had been given. If an extension was necessary, it should be limited to two months.
Judge McDonnell ordered the four-month extension of the order on part of the seized documents to start from October 19th.