The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom was created by Section 12 and Schedule 2 to the Enterprise Act 2002 which came into force on 1 April 2003. The Competition Service is an executive non-departmental public body which was created as a support body for the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
The current functions of the CAT are:
As of January 2024 [update] , the tribunal has addressed 623 cases to date. [1] Examples include:
In 2011, a number of fines levied by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on construction firms found to have engaged in illegal bid-rigging schemes were deemed to be "excessive" and the Tribunal revised the values of the fines. [2] The tribunal decided that the OFT had used turnover figures for the wrong year when calculating fines, and treated the bid-rigging as more serious than it should have done, although in some other respects the OFT's ruling was upheld. [3]
In December 2020 the tribunal upheld a decision of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on an appeal from Northern Ireland building firm FP McCann Ltd., who along with other companies had participated in an illegal cartel. [4]
In March 2014, the price-comparison site, Skyscanner, brought a case to the Tribunal, [5] challenging a January 2014 decision by the Office of Fair Trading to settle a probe over pricing of hotel rooms sold online. The OFT's decision had been to accept commitments from a number of online travel agents and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). [6] Skyscanner appealed against the OFT's successor, the Competition and Markets Authority, because it believed its business would be affected by the settlement, even though it was not targeted by the investigation. Skyscanner's case was supported by a smaller online travel agent, Skoosh, which had triggered the OFT's original investigation. [7]
In a judgment handed down in September 2014, the Competition Appeal Tribunal quashed the Office of Fair Trading's decision to accept commitments in the online hotel booking sector and the matter was reverted to the CMA for reconsideration. [8]
A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers to limit competition and increase prices by creating artificial shortages through low production quotas, stockpiling, and marketing quotas. Cartels can be vertical or horizontal but are inherently unstable due to the temptation to defect and falling prices for all members. Additionally, advancements in technology or the emergence of substitutes may undermine cartel pricing power, leading to the breakdown of the cooperation needed to sustain the cartel. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Most jurisdictions consider it anti-competitive behavior and have outlawed such practices. Cartel behavior includes price fixing, bid rigging, and reductions in output. The doctrine in economics that analyzes cartels is cartel theory. Cartels are distinguished from other forms of collusion or anti-competitive organization such as corporate mergers.
The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). It was tasked with ensuring healthy competition between companies in the UK for the ultimate benefit of consumers and the economy.
Resale price maintenance (RPM) or, occasionally, retail price maintenance is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the distributors will sell the manufacturer's product at certain prices, at or above a price floor or at or below a price ceiling. If a reseller refuses to maintain prices, either openly or covertly, the manufacturer may stop doing business with it. Resale price maintenance is illegal in many jurisdictions.
Bid rigging is a fraudulent scheme in a procurement action which enables companies to submit non-competitive bids. It can be performed by corrupt officials, by firms in an orchestrated act of collusion, or by officials and firms acting together. This form of collusion is illegal in most countries. It is a form of price fixing and market allocation, often practiced where contracts are determined by a call for bids, for example in the case of government construction contracts. The typical objective of bid rigging is to enable the "winning" party to obtain contracts at uncompetitive prices. The other parties are compensated in various ways, for example, by cash payments, or by being designated to be the "winning" bidder on other contracts, or by an arrangement where some parts of the successful bidder's contract will be subcontracted to them. In this way, they "share the spoils" among themselves. Bid rigging almost always results in economic harm to the agency which is seeking the bids, and to the public, who ultimately bear the costs as taxpayers or consumers.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic regulator. The intention was for the OFT to make markets work well for consumers, ensuring vigorous competition between fair-dealing businesses and prohibiting unfair practices such as rogue trading, scams, and cartels. Its role was modified and its powers changed by the Enterprise Act 2002.
The Enterprise Act 2002 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made major changes to UK competition law with respect to mergers and also changed the law governing insolvency bankruptcy. It made cartels illegal with a maximum prison sentence of 5 years and states that level of competition in a market should be the basis for investigation.
Norman Roy Blackwell, Baron Blackwell is a British former businessman, public servant, Conservative politician, campaigner and policy advisor.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is South Korea's regulatory authority for economic competition. It was established in 1981 within the Economic Planning Board. The establishing law was the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (MRFTA), Law No. 3320, December 31, 1980. In 1994, the Fair Trade Commission and its secretariat were separated from the Economic Planning Board as an independent vice ministerial-level, central administrative organization. In 1996, the status of the KFTC Chairman was elevated from vice-ministerial to ministerial level.
United Kingdom competition law is affected by both British and European elements. The Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002 are the most important statutes for cases with a purely national dimension. However, prior to Brexit, if the effect of a business' conduct would reach across borders, the European Commission has competence to deal with the problems, and exclusively EU law would apply. Even so, the pre-Brexit section 60 of the Competition Act 1998 provides that UK rules are to be applied in line with European jurisprudence. Like all competition law, that in the UK has three main tasks.
Controversy over Sky's operation of pay TV services on Freeview began in 2006. It was claimed at various times that Sky was operating in an anti-competitive way in the British pay TV market. Similar concerns arose about Sky's procurement, distribution and charging levels of films on its Sky Movies service. Sky was exonerated by the Competition Commission in August 2012. Sky was found to have overcharged for its Sky Sports channels, and was ordered in 2010 to reduce its charges for these channels. Its terms for supplying the sports channels to other companies were also challenged in 2010–11; some of the complaints were upheld by the regulatory authorities, others were not. Another challenge, in 2009, concerned Sky's charges for listing free-to-air channels on its electronic program guide (EPG).
The Competition Act, 2002 was enacted by the Parliament of India and governs Indian competition law. It replaced the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969. Under this legislation, the Competition Commission of India was established to prevent the activities that adversely affected competition in India. This act extends to whole of India.
The judiciary of Belgium is similar to the French judiciary. Belgium evolved from a unitary to a federal state, but its judicial system has not been adapted to a federal system.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-competitive activities. The CMA launched in shadow form on 1 October 2013 and began operating fully on 1 April 2014, when it assumed many of the functions of the previously existing Competition Commission and Office of Fair Trading, which were abolished. The CMA also has consumer protection responsibilities and take on new digital markets regulation responsibilities in late 2024 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, also known as ERRA, is a major act of Parliament aimed at reforming the regulatory environment faced by small and medium-sized business. It established a UK Green Investment Bank, reformed several aspects of employment law, cut regulation and addressed a range of other regulatory issues. The act also strengthened the regulatory settlement on mergers and anti-competitive behaviour. In doing so, part 3 of the Act established a new combined Competition and Markets Authority, which took over the functions of the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission. It received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013. It implemented reforms to UK competition procedures which had been announced in March 2012.
The Competition Tribunal is the federal adjudicative body in Canada responsible for cases regarding competition laws under the Competition Act.
The Judiciary of the Netherlands is the system of courts which interprets and applies the law in the Netherlands.
Telefonica O2 UK Ltd v British Telecommunications plc [2014] UKSC 42 is a UK enterprise law, concerning telecommunications.
Mergers in United Kingdom law is a theory-based regulation that helps forecast and avoid abuse, while indirectly maintaining a competitive framework within the market. A true merger is one in which two separate entities merge into an entirely new entity. In Law the term ‘merger’ has a much broader application, for example where A acquires all, or a majority of, the shares in B, and is able to control the affairs of B as such.
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