Expert evidence - Section 4 of the 1996 Act provides for the opinion of any witness, who appears to the relevant court to possess the appropriate qualification or experience for the matter to which his evidence relates, to be admissible in evidence as regards any such matter relevant to the proceedings, for example, an explanation of economic principles or their application in practice. Section 4 also permits a court to direct that evidence of a general or specific kind will not be admissible in proceedings for an offence under Section 2 of the 1996 Act or will be admissible for specified purposes only.

Fees for mergers notifications - Section 10 of the 1996 Act permits the Minister to introduce regulations which require notifications under the 1978 Act to be accompanied by a prescribed fee.

"Dawn raid" powers increased - the type of records which may be seized for the purposes of obtaining any information necessary for the exercise by the Competition Authority or the Minister of their functions under the 1978 Act, the 1991 Act or the 1996 Act have been expanded substantially by Section 11 of the 1996 Act to include as liable to seizure a much broader category of records than previously. Such records now include information from all devices in which information, sounds or signals are stored or embodied so as to be capable (with or without the use of another instrument) of being reproduced in legible or audible form, all devices in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the use of another instrument) of being reproduced in visual form and photographs, transcripts of sounds or signals and still reproductions of visual images.

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