Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014

Appointment of authorised officers

35. (1) The Commission may appoint in writing such and so many persons, including members of the staff of the Commission, to be authorised officers for the purposes of all or any of the relevant statutory provisions and such appointment may be specified to be for a fixed period.

(2) An authorised officer appointed under—

(a) section 30 of the Act of 2007, or

(b) section 45 of the Act of 2002,

and holding office immediately before the establishment day shall, on and after that day, be deemed to have been appointed under this section.

(3) Every authorised officer appointed under this section shall be furnished with a warrant of appointment which shall be issued by the Commission, and shall, when exercising any power conferred on him or her by any of the relevant statutory provisions if requested by a person affected, produce the warrant of appointment or copy of it to that person.

(4) An appointment under this section shall cease—

(a) if the Commission revokes the appointment,

(b) if the appointment is for a fixed period, on the expiry of that period, or

(c) if the person appointed is a member of staff of the Commission, when that person ceases to be a member of staff of the Commission.

(5) An authorised officer, when exercising any powers conferred on an authorised officer by this Act, may be accompanied by such other authorised officers or members of An Garda Síochána or both as he or she considers necessary.

(6) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in subsection (5) affects the exercise by an authorised officer who is a member of An Garda Síochána of any power, which apart from that subsection, he or she could exercise by virtue of subsection (1) of section 36 or subsection (1) of section 37 or otherwise.

(7) A person who falsely represents himself or herself as an authorised officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.

(8) A person who—

(a) obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of a power under section 36 or 37,

(b) without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a request or requirement of an authorised officer under section 36 or 37, or

(c) in purported compliance with such a request or requirement gives information that is false or misleading in a material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(9) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (8) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both.

(10) Where a member of An Garda Síochána is of the opinion that an offence under subsection (8)(a) is being or has been committed, then the member may arrest that person without warrant.

(11) In proceedings by way of summons for an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions in which the prosecutor is the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Commission, a document within the meaning of section 7(1) of the Courts Act 1964 may be served by an authorised officer.

(12) In—

(a) an action under section 14A or 15C of the Act of 2002,

(b) an investigation under Chapter 5 (inserted by section 83) of Part 3 of the Act of 2007, or

the production to the court of a document purporting to be a warrant or other document whereby the Commission appointed, on a specified date, a person under this section to be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act shall, without proof of any signature on it or that the signatory was the proper person to sign it, be sufficient evidence, until the contrary is proved, that the first-mentioned person is or, as the case may be, was at all material times (but not earlier than the date aforesaid) a person appointed under this section to be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act.

Annotations

Modifications (not altering text):

C21

Section applied with modifications and references construed (17.02.2024) by Digital Services Act 2024 (2/2024), s. 46(a), S.I. No. 53 of 2024.

Construction of references for Act of 2014

46. Parts 1 and 2 of the Act of 2014 (other than sections 17 and 19) shall apply for the purposes of the Digital Services Regulation and this Part in relation to the functions of the Commission under this Part, subject to the following and any other necessary modifications:

(a) in sections 10(1)(d) and (e), 24, 35 and 36, references to the relevant statutory provisions shall be construed as including a reference to Part 3 of the Digital Services Act 2024;

...

C22

Section applied with modifications and references construed (27.03.2024) by European Union (Contestable and Fair Markets in the Digital Sector) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 117 of 2024), reg. 5.

Construction of References

5. Sections 24, 25 and 35 of the Act of 2014 shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations subject to the modification that references to the relevant statutory provisions shall be construed as references to these Regulations.

C23

Subs. (1) applied with modifications and references construed (12.07.2020) by European Union (Promoting Fairness and Transparency for Business Users of Online Intermediation Services) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 256 of 2020), reg. 7(3), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

Construction of References

7. ...

(3) Sections 10(1), 24, 35 and 36 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 (No. 29 of 2014) shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations subject to the modification that references to the relevant statutory provisions shall be construed as a reference to these Regulations.

C24

Subs. (1) applied with modifications and references construed (17.01.2020) by European Union (Cooperation Between National Authorities Responsible for the Enforcement of Consumer Protection Laws) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 14 of 2020), reg. 10(1), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

Construction of References

10. (1) Sections 10(1), 24, 35 and 36 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 (No. 29 of 2014) shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations subject to the modification that references to the relevant statutory provisions shall be construed as a reference to these Regulations.

...

C25

Subs. (1) applied with modifications and references construed by Hallmarking Act 1981 (18/1981), s. 6C(4), as inserted (30.09.2019) by Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019 (2/2019), s. 9, S.I. No. 439 of 2019.

[Offence relating to supply of multi-metal articles

6C. ...

(4) Sections 10(1), 24, 35 and 36 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 shall apply for the purposes of this section and section 6B, subject to the modification that references in those sections to the relevant statutory provisions shall be construed as a reference to this section and section 6B.

…]

C26

Subs. (1) applied with modifications and references construed (3.12.2018) by European Union (Unjustified Geoblocking of Consumers) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 513 of 2018), reg. 9(3), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

Construction of References

9. ...

C27

Subs. (1) applied with modifications and references construed (9.01.2016) by European Union (Online Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 500 of 2015), reg. 8(3), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

Construction of References

8. ...

(3) Sections 10(1), 24, 35 and 36 of the Act of 2014 shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations subject to the modification that references to the relevant statutory provisions shall be construed as a reference to these Regulations.

C28

Subs. (1) applied with modifications and references construed (31.07.2015) by European Union (Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 343 of 2015), reg. 22(3).

Construction of References

22. ...

Editorial Notes:

E12

A class A fine means a fine not greater than €5,000 as provided (4.01.2011) by Fines Act 2010 (8/2010), ss. 3, 4(1), S.I. No. 662 of 2010.

E13

Previous affecting provision: section applied with modifications and references construed (17.01.2020) by European Union (Cooperation Between National Authorities Responsible for the Enforcement of Consumer Protection Laws) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 691 of 2019), reg. 10(1), in effect as per reg. 1(2); revoked (17.01.2020) by European Union (Cooperation Between National Authorities Responsible for the Enforcement of Consumer Protection Laws) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 14 of 2020), reg. 11(f), in effect as per reg. 1(2).

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Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014