1. Notification was made by AIB on 12 August 1999 with a request for a certificate under Section 4(4) of the Competition Act, 1991 or, in the event of a refusal by the Competition Authority to issue a certificate, a licence under Section 4(2), in respect of a concession agreement between University College Dublin and AIB.

2. The notification concerns the grant by University College Dublin of a sole concession to AIB to operate a bank branch on the university campuses at Belfield, Carysfort, Earlsfort Terrace and Shelbourne Road (together referred to as the ("Campus").

3. AIB is the largest commercial bank in Ireland. University College Dublin (UCD) is a constituent college of the National University of Ireland, which was established under the National University Act and incorporated by charter in 1908.

4. The notified agreement is for a period of 10 years from 1 March 1999. Under the agreement, University College Dublin granted a sole concession to AIB to operate a bank branch on the University campus in Belfield with the exclusive permission to offer financial services to students of the Campus.

5. Section 4(1) of the Competition Act, 1991 refers to agreements between undertakings and Section 3(1) of the Act defines undertaking as a “person being an individual, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons engaged for gain in the production, supply or distribution of goods or the provision of a service.” AIB is an undertaking engaged for gain in the provision of banking and other financial services. In Decision No. 288, UCD and The Bank of Ireland, the Authority concluded that UCD is an undertaking as defined in the Competition Act. The notified agreement is therefore an agreement between undertakings. The agreement has effect within the State.

6. The agreement provides for exclusivity in relation to the operation by AIB of the banking concession. In a number of earlier decisions the Authority has already indicated its view that exclusive concession agreements to use premises in a building complex for the purposes of a banking business do not offend against Section 4(1) of the Competition Act when alternative facilities are available to consumers. [1] In this instance each constituent part of the Campus covered by this Agreement has a minimum of fourteen branches of financial institutions owned by competitors within a radius of two miles. The Authority therefore considers that the notified agreement between University College Dublin and AIB does not offend against section 4(1) of the Competition Act, 1991.

The Competition Authority has issued the following certificate:

The Competition Authority certifies that in its opinion, on the basis of the facts in its possession, the agreement between University College, Dublin and AIB in relation to a banking concession at University College, Dublin, notified under Section 7 on 12 August 1999 (Notification No. CA/9/99), does not contravene Section 4 (1) of the Competition Act, 1991.

[1] See University College Dublin/Bank of Ireland (Decision No. 288), University of Limerick/Bank of Ireland (Decision No. 289), University College Galway/Bank of Ireland (Decision No. 290), Dublin city University/AIB Banks PLC (Decision No. 293) and Athlone Regional Technical College/Bank of Ireland (Decision No. 475).