Competition Authority wins long battle with beef society

THE COMPETITION Authority has won its long running case against the Beef Industry Development Society (Bids) which has been going on since 2003.

The civil action involved an agreement by members of the society to leave the beef processing industry in return for payment.

The Authority took the view that the agreement was anti-competitive.

Following a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that an agreement of this kind is illegal, the Supreme Court held that the Bids agreement had infringed Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The Supreme Court remitted the case to the High Court to allow the society the opportunity to argue that the agreement should be allowed on efficiency grounds.

Before the High Court had the opportunity to reach any decision on this issue, the society withdrew its claim and agreed to pay a substantial contribution to the costs of the Competition Authority in the case.

Commenting on the outcome, Dr Stanley Wong, member of the Competition Authority, said the Competition Authority was extremely pleased to “have our position vindicated”.

“The case is a very important case for Irish and European competition law. It proves that a plan to restructure an industry by a group of competitors is likely to be found to be illegal,”he said.