Ryanair’s challenge to a warrant used by competition authorities to search its Dublin premises will be heard in the High Court next October.
The court was told one issue between the airline and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has been sorted, but the wider case, alleging the search warrant is invalid, will proceed to trial and would take three to four days.
Meanwhile, Ryanair will move an application later this month asking to be allowed to cross-examine a deponent on his evidence to the court, its senior counsel, Martin Hayden, said.
Nessa Cahill SC said her client, the CCPC, is concerned about delay in the case. There is an “urgency” to resolving this, as it is imperative that competition investigations are resolved quickly.
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Mr Hayden said his side has been trying to progress matters.
Mr Justice Max Barrett scheduled the trial for mid-October.
Previously, he dismissed the airline’s claim against the Italian Autorità Garante Della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) for want of jurisdiction by the Irish courts. It has another case against the AGCM before the Italian courts.
The Italian competition watchdog was sued in Ireland by Ryanair DAC and Ryanair Holdings plc as part of the same case it has brought against the CCPC.
The Irish case, now solely against the CCPC, concerns a raid on the airline’s offices near Dublin Airport on March 8th. Some 30 officers, including some from the AGCM, took part, while some 200 documents were seized.
The search was on foot of a request to the CCPC from the AGCM, which began an investigation last September following complaints from two Italian travel agency associations and a consumer association.
According to Ryanair, the Italian competition authority alleges its model of direct online sale of its tickets to consumers constitutes an abuse of a dominant position under Italian and EU law.
It alleges effective competition across tourism services is jeopardised by the airline’s policy of precluding travel agencies from purchasing tickets via its website, where the lowest fares are available, and directing them instead to a global distribution system.
Ryanair strongly denies the claims.
Its High Court case alleges the warrant permitting a search of its offices is invalidated by the Irish competition authority’s failure to inform the issuing judge about two key Italian rulings the airline says bolsters its stance that it is not abusing its dominant market position.
Its fundamental rights were breached by this omission before the District Court warrant application last March 8th, it claims.
Ryanair also made various claims of privilege over the documents seized by the authorities.
EU competition law allows a competition authority of one member state to request another member state’s authority to inspect on its behalf to establish whether there has been an infringement of EU competition law.
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