Competition Law Articles

UK Merger Control: Recent Developments (Issue 2)
9 April 2010
Author(s): Alistair Lindsay

UK merger control remains relatively quiet.  There are currently no merger references from the OFT before the Competition Commission (the CC): the only ongoing merger investigation at the CC - Live Nation / ...

UK CAT JR in Mergers and Market Investigations:
15 February 2010
Author(s): Alistair Lindsay

This note discusses recent appeals to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the "CAT") under ss. 120 and 179 of the Enterprise Act (the "Act") against decisions of the Office of Fair Trading (the ...

Emerald Supplies Ltd v British Airways Plc - pub. E.C.L.R. Issue 3, 2010
2 February 2010
Author(s): Jorren Knibbe

This material was first published by E.C.L.R Limited in E.C.L.R. Issue 3, 2010 and is reproduced by agreement with the ...

Mergers - Exceptions to the duty to refer and undertakings in lieu ~ Draft guidance consultation document
4 December 2009
Author(s): Alistair Lindsay

In October, the OFT published a draft guidance consultation document, "Mergers - Exceptions to the duty to refer and undertakings in lieu".  The draft proposes significantly to amend the existing guidance on the de minimis exception ...

UK Merger Control: Recent Developments
29 September 2009
Author(s): Alistair Lindsay

This note analyses recent developments in UK merger control, under the following headings: the de minimis exception; undertakings in lieu; the relationship between the OFT and the CC - retail mergers; substantial part of the ...

Review of the draft joint Merger Assessment Guidelines of the CC and OFT
3 August 2009
Author(s): Alistair Lindsay

In general, there is much to welcome in the draft Guidelines.  First, it is helpful that the documents issued by the Authorities following the Enterprise Act are being updated to reflect experience and developments.   Secondly, it is ...

Appealing Fines in the Competition Appeal ~ First published in GCP June 2009
22 June 2009
Author(s): Ronit Kreisberger

The Competition Appeal Tribunal ("the CAT") gave judgment in the NAPP case, the first ever appeal, which included an appeal on penalty, under the Competition Act 1998 ("the Competition Act") back in January 2002. In the intervening seven and a ...

Modernisation: A Brave New World? ~ Article first published in the Competition Law Journal, Volume 6, Issue 1 2007
6 June 2007
Author(s): Anneli Howard

Modernisation has recently celebrated its second birthday.  Like proud parents, the European Commission and Council proclaimed its birth with lofty aspirations.  The Modernisation Regulation would 'disseminate a competition culture ...

Shared Market Power and Consumer Detriment: the United Kingdom Solution through Market Inquiries and Comprehensive Remedies ~ First Published in Euromoney Competition & Antitrust Review 2007, pages 20 - 21
22 February 2007
Author(s): John Swift QC

After many years of debate and dithering the United Kingdom took the bold decision after the election of the Labour Government in 1997, that it was time to align its competitive laws, at least in substantive terms, with those of the ...

A Good Friday ~ Article first published in Legal Week, 15 February 2007
19 February 2007
Author(s): Daniel Beard

There should have been gasps of relief in boardrooms across the country last Friday.  Was it confidence, insouciance or ignorance that led to the deafening silence?  Last year the High Court decided that the price of data concerning ...

No Competition ~ Do Healthcare Providers Need to Worry? ~ Article first published in the February 2007 edition of Healthinvestor, www.healthinvestor.co.uk
7 February 2007
Author(s): Ronit Kreisberger

Breaching competition law can cost businesses dear.  Those found to have infringed the competition rules may find themselves on the receiving end of hefty fines (up to 10 per cent of their worldwide turnover) as well as being ...

Competition Update ~ Article first published by the Solicitors Journal, 15th September 2006
29 September 2006
Author(s): Daniel Beard

Oh!  The joy of seeing others suffer.  Of watching while a regulator embroils its management in a detailed investigation; chastises them publicly in an infringement decision; and then imposes a walloping great fine.  Ah!  The ...

Competition Law Update ~ Article first published by the Solicitors Journal, 24th June 2005
24 April 2005
Author(s): Daniel Beard

It is not quite the Lord Mayor turning up for his parade wearing a hoodie, but there is undoubtedly a clash of culture between intellectual property lawyers and competition lawyers.  The IP side has a tendency to see state granted monopolies ...

Modernisation of EC Competition Law ~ Ringing the Changes
30 June 2004
Author(s): Gerry Facenna, Anneli Howard

From 1 May 2004, the investigatory and enforcement framework of European competition law has been radically overhauled. Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 of 16 December 2002, ("the Modernisation Regulation") replaces Council Regulation (EEC) No. ...

Appeals Court Overturns OFT Decision ~ Article published by the European Lawyer April 2004
30 April 2004
Author(s): Valentina Sloane, Christopher Vajda QC

In the first case to consider the UK's new merger regime established by the Enterprise Act 2002 - Office of Fair Trading v. IBA Health - the Court of Appeal has provided guidance on two important issues of principle.  It is a case ...

Anti-Trust = Anti-Human Rights? ~ Article written for the Leeds & Yorkshire Lawyer
1 April 2004
Author(s): Anneli Howard

The advent of the Human Rights Act has coincided with a momentous overhaul of the domestic competition law regime.  Under the Competition Act 1998, the OFT (the UK's competition watch dog) has proactive investigatory powers, including the ...

Competition Update ~ Article written for the Solicitor's Journal of 5th September 2003
5 September 2003
Author(s): Daniel Beard

The Jerry Maguire principle seems to be ever more important in competition law.  In the eponymous film, Jerry Maguire was the sports agent who got a conscience and ended up with only one client, Rod Tidwell.  And though Rod liked Jerry, ...

Pass go and collect £200 ~ Winning damages in Monopoly
20 December 2002
Author(s): George Peretz

Competition law has been often been regarded as an abstruse area of learning which need not trouble those lawyers who do not advise on multi-billion pound corporate deals.  But if anyone still thinks that, they are wrong.  The current ...

Modernisation: the Next Steps. The National Litigator's Eye View
28 November 2002
Author(s): Michael Bowsher QC

The Commission's proposal to reform the procedural basis for antitrust enforcement by amending Regulation No 17 has been extensively debated.  The adoption of the Regulation is now imminent and in this paper I sketch out some ...

Fix the penalty for fixing the price - Financial Times
29 October 2002
Author(s): Jennifer Skilbeck

"The US experience has persuaded the British government to use the enterprise bill to add criminal sanctions to the already punitive civil powers for dealing with price-fixing cartels. Whether this measure will ultimately offer any ...

Supplying the Public Sector: A Case for a Cartel?
27 May 2002
Author(s): Jennifer Skilbeck

A continuing concern of those who advise suppliers to the public sector has at last come before the Courts.  How can such suppliers ensure that increasingly sophisticated public procurement departments use their exceptional ...

Unlawful State Aid: What is it and what are its legal consequences?
10 April 2002
Author(s): Christopher Vajda QC

This article discusses how the EC state aid regime deals with the grant of unlawful state aid. This is an important issue given the frequency that aids are granted by Member States in breach of the procedural rules laid down.  ...

Decentralisation in EC State Aid Law ~ A Greater Role for National Courts
2 April 2002
Author(s): Christopher Vajda QC

Traditionally the operation and administration of state aid has been very centralised.  There is an obligation on Member States to pre-notify proposed new state aid to the European Commission under Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty ...

Crackdown on Cartels
23 January 2002
Author(s): George Peretz

Life is getting more and more dangerous for cartels.  That is the message from the European Commission and from the Office of Fair ...

Vertical Restraints in Domestic and EC Competition Law
15 January 2002
Author(s): Peter Roth QC, Valentina Sloane

This paper sets out in summary the application of Article 81 EC and the Competition Act 1998 to vertical agreements and restraints.  At the EC level, the law on vertical restraints has undergone radical reform.  The ...

Go directly to gaol; do not pass go; do not collect £200 ~ The criminalisation of UK Competition Law
15 November 2001
Author(s): George Peretz

In its July 2001 White Paper "A World Class Competition Regime", the Government stated that there was a "strong case" for introducing criminal sanctions against individuals who engage in hard-core cartels.  This talk briefly ...

DGFT's Powers of Investigation: How do they affect your company?
11 April 2001
Author(s): George Peretz, Jon Turner QC

The DGFT can conduct an investigation once he has "reasonable grounds for suspecting" that one of the prohibitions has been infringed (CA 1998, section 25).  The DGFT need not have any reason to believe that a ...

What position do team salary caps play in the game of competitive balance?
30 October 1999
Author(s): Paul Harris

In the sporting world, a salary cap is a global limitation on the amount permitted to be paid to the playing staff of a team, over a given time period.  Salary caps are already well established (in both sporting and legal ...