10. (1) The Commission shall have, in addition to the functions assigned to it by any other provision of this Act, or of any other enactment, the following functions:

(a) to promote competition;

(b) to promote and protect the interests and welfare of consumers;

(c) to carry out an investigation, F2[on its own initiative, in response to a complaint made to it by any person, or to assist with an investigation conducted by the European Commission or a competition authority of another Member State in accordance with the Regulation of 2003,] into any suspected breach of—

(i) the relevant statutory provisions, that may be occurring or has occurred,

(ii) Article 101 or 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, that may be occurring or has occurred, or

(iii) notwithstanding their repeal, the Competition (Amendment) Act 1996 and the Competition Act 1991, that has occurred;

(d) to enforce the relevant statutory provisions;

(e) to encourage compliance with the relevant statutory provisions, which may include the publication of notices containing practical guidance as to how those provisions may be complied with;

(f) to set the strategic objectives for the Commission; and

(g) to ensure that appropriate systems and procedures are in place to achieve the Commission’s strategic objectives and to take all reasonable steps available to it to achieve those objectives.

(2) This section and the other provisions of this Part are without prejudice to the Central Bank Act 1942 in relation to the concurrent vesting in the Central Bank of Ireland of certain functions under the Act of 2007.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), in performing its functions under this Act, the Commission—

(a) may, and shall at the request of the Minister, advise and, as appropriate, make recommendations to the Government, the Minister, any other Minister of the Government, any Minister of State, any public body or any prescribed body within the meaning of section 19 in relation to any matter concerning, or which the Commission considers would be likely to impact on—

(i) consumer protection and welfare, or

(ii) competition,

or both,

(b) shall foster and promote contacts, and co-operate and consult with consumer groups and such other persons or bodies as the Commission considers could assist in the promotion or development of consumer protection and welfare and competition matters,

(c) shall promote, where appropriate, the development of alternative dispute resolution procedures as a means of resolving disputes arising out of consumer transactions,

(d) shall promote public awareness and conduct public information campaigns for the purpose of educating and providing information to the public in relation to consumer protection and welfare,

(e) shall promote public awareness and conduct public information campaigns in relation to issues of competition,

(f) shall promote educational initiatives and activities relating to consumer and competition information and awareness and advise, when requested, the Minister or any other Minister of the Government, Department of State, educational or training institution or any public body whose activities are concerned with matters relating to any of the purposes of this Act, the Act of 2002 or the Act of 2007,

(g) shall review and may approve codes of practice in accordance with section 88 of the Act of 2007,

(h) shall prepare and publish guidelines to traders or persons representing traders in accordance with section 90 of the Act of 2007,

(i) shall promote and encourage the establishment by a trader or traders, whether generally or in respect of a particular service or services, of quality assurance schemes, that is to say schemes the purpose of which is—

(i) to maintain and improve the quality and reliability of the service or services provided to consumers, and

(ii) to enable consumers to identify traders who meet the requirements of the scheme concerned,

(j) shall promote the interests of consumers by—

(i) providing information in relation to financial services, including information in relation to the costs to consumers, and the risks and benefits associated with the provision of those services, and

(ii) promoting the development of financial education and capability,

(k) may, and shall when requested by the Minister, advise and, as appropriate, make recommendations to the Government, the Minister, any other Minister of the Government or any Minister of State, in relation to any proposals for legislative change, or any other policy matters, concerning—

(i) consumer protection and welfare, or

(ii) competition,

or both,

(l) may, and shall when requested by the Minister, and after consultation with such persons as it considers appropriate having regard to the proposals to be submitted, submit to the Minister, any other Minister of the Government or any Minister of State any proposals it considers appropriate for amendment of any enactment, or for new enactments, concerning—

(i) consumer protection and welfare, or

(ii) competition,

or both,

(m) may co-operate with other authorities whether in the State or elsewhere charged with responsibility for the enforcement of laws relating to consumer protection and welfare and competition or the promotion of consumer protection and welfare and competition between undertakings,

(n) shall, as it considers appropriate, conduct or commission research, studies and analysis on matters relating to the functions of the Commission and may publish, in the form and manner that the Commission thinks fit, such findings as it considers appropriate (which may consist of, or include, a study or analysis of any development outside the State),

(o) for the purposes of performing its functions under paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (n), may, through the provision of financial or other resources, support the activities relating to consumer protection and welfare and competition of such voluntary bodies as the Commission considers appropriate,

(p) may identify and comment on constraints imposed by any enactment or administrative practice on the operation of competition in the economy,

(q) shall perform such other functions transferred to the Commission pursuant to section 39 including the functions transferred to the National Consumer Agency under subsection (2) of section 37 of the Act of 2007.

(4) The Minister may request the Commission to carry out a study or analysis of—

(a) any issue relating to consumer protection and welfare,

(b) any practice or method of competition affecting the supply and distribution of goods or the provision of services, or

(c) any other matter relating to competition,

and to submit a report to the Minister in relation to the study or analysis, and the Commission shall comply with such a request within such period and in such form and manner as the Minister may specify in the request.

(5) The Commission shall have all such powers as are necessary or expedient for the performance of its functions and shall ensure that its functions are performed effectively and efficiently.

F2[(6) The Commission may delegate the performance of any of its functions to any member of the Commission, to any member of its staff duly authorised in that behalf by the Commission or to any authorised officer duly authorised in that behalf by the Commission.]

(7) Notwithstanding subsection (6), the Commission may not delegate the performance of the following functions—

(a) making a declaration under subsection (3) of section 4 of the Act of 2002 that a specified category of agreements, decisions or concerted practices complies with the conditions referred to in subsection (5) of that section,

(b) making a determination in relation to a merger or acquisition under section 22(3) of the Act of 2002,

(c) the initiation of enforcement proceedings under Parts 2 and 2A and section 26 of the Act of 2002 and Part 5 of the Act of 2007,

F3[(ca) the referral of a matter to an adjudication officer for decision under section 15M of the Act of 2002,]

(d) functions under Chapter 5 (inserted by Part 6) of Part 3 of the Act of 2007, and

(e) functions under sections 22, 28, 30 and 32.

(8) Nothing in this section or any other provision of this Act imposes a duty on the Commission to consider whether to investigate a matter that is referred to it but the Commission may, in the case of a matter referred to it, consider whether to do so (and, accordingly, may proceed to investigate the matter) where it is satisfied the matter may affect competition or the interests and welfare of consumers or both.

(9) In this section, “public body” has the same meaning as in the Act of 2007.