Draft Guidelines on Media Mergers for Public Consultation Published
Minister for Communications Alex White T.D., today published draft media merger guidelines for public consultation. These draft guidelines have been prepared under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, which came into effect last month.
Minister White said: “The new approach introduced in the recent Competition and Consumer Protection Act significantly enhances the regulation of media mergers in the State and introduces a requirement for media plurality into the regulatory framework. This strengthened process recognises the fact that a free and pluralistic media is an essential component of modern representative democracies. These draft guidelines set out how we propose to conduct these tests. I encourage all interested parties to examine the guidelines and submit their comments to my Department.”
The guidelines have been produced to help media organisations and other interested parties to understand how the new media merger process will work in practice. In particular, they set out the relevant criteria for making determinations on whether a proposed media merger is contrary to the public interest in terms of media plurality.
Interested parties are invited to make submissions on the guidelines by 22 January 2015. The guidelines have been published on the Department’s website in draft form at http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Broadcasting/Consultation+on+Media+Mergers+Guidelines.htm
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