competition law
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Regulating Big Tech in the UK
Following hot(ish) on the heels of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (“the Bill”) was published on 25 April 2023. It seeks to do three things: (1) to establish a new ex-ante regulatory regime for digital markets, conferring powers on the CMA, via its Digital Markets Unit, to… Continue reading
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The Trouble with Economists
The Competition Appeal Tribunal’s recent decision in the trucks cartel claim raises some serious questions about expert economic evidence. In this post I want to flesh out some of the challenges and then float some suggestions for improvements. The context Many readers will know the basic background. Back in 2016, the European Commission decided that… Continue reading
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Crisis cartels: relying on Article 101(3) in a pandemic
Brian Kennelly QC and Tom Coates examine how businesses might invoke Article 101(3) to justify collaboration during the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted some slackening of competition rules, but not much. Competition authorities, including the Commission and the CMA, have indicated that they are unlikely to take issue with coordination between providers of critical… Continue reading
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Litigation in the shadow of COVID-19
Readers of this blog may be interested to know that Blackstone Chambers has set up a dedicated webpage providing legal insights into COVID-19. In the most recent article, Credit When Credit Won’t Do, Kieron Beal QC and Tom Mountford consider the prospects of group litigation being used to help consumers whose holiday plans have been… Continue reading
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Anchoring claims to a UK subsidiary
The recent decision of the High Court in Vattenfall AB v Prysmian SpA [2018] EWHC 1694 (Ch) is another example of claimants being allowed to use non-addressee English subsidiaries as anchor defendants for their competition damages claims. It is also another example of the court considering but not actually having to decide the interesting legal… Continue reading
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Brexit and implications for UK Merger Control – Part 3/3: Managing and prioritising the CMA’s mergers workload
The Competition Bulletin is pleased to welcome the third in a three-part series of blogs on Brexit and merger control by Ben Forbes and Mat Hughes of AlixPartners. Ben and Mat are (with others) co-authors of the new Sweet & Maxwell book, “UK Merger Control: Law and Practice”. Part one focused on the issues associated… Continue reading
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When is an antitrust/competition claim caught by an arbitration clause? The Microsoft Mobile decision
The decision of the High Court in Microsoft Mobile Oy (Ltd) v Sony offers some helpful guidance as to when a competition law tort claim will be caught by an arbitration clause in a sale or supply agreement. Competition law claims frequently complain about prices, on ground of collusion or abuse. Those prices may already… Continue reading
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Islands of jurisdiction for competition damages claims in a post-Brexit world
By Naina Patel and Andrew Scott When the UK leaves the EU, the rules governing jurisdiction in cross-border competition damages claims will likely change. Most immediately, this will impact those who had acquired pre-Brexit causes of action for breach of statutory duty under section 2(1) of the European Communities Act 1972, based on Articles 101… Continue reading
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Competition Law claims post-Brexit: the issue of applicable law
Once notification is given by the UK Government of its intention to withdraw from the European Union under Article 50 TFEU, EU law will cease to apply in the UK after the expiry of two years (absent an agreement between all 28 Member States extending the relevant period). What then happens to the UK’s competition… Continue reading
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Competition law and covenants restrictive of land use
Covenants restricting use of land to particular commercial purposes are commonplace. Until recently, the potential for competition law to regulate them was limited, because “land agreements” were excluded from the reach of the Chapter I Prohibition under the Competition Act 1998. The exclusion has, however, been revoked by the Competition Act 1998 (Land Agreements Exclusion… Continue reading
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Private enforcement: the Commission speaks at last
The trio of documents published by the Commission last week mark an important moment in private competition enforcement in the EU. After years of debate and consultation, it is now clear that, whilst the Commission is determined to take some important steps to assist claimants in private actions, it is not prepared to bring about… Continue reading
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Collective Actions: loss in complex cases
The big news from last week’s UK announcement on reforming private competition enforcement is that the government plans to introduce opt-out class actions for competition claims. The proposals incorporate various “safeguards” designed to ensure that the perceived excesses of US class actions do not become a problem here. Some of the safeguards are really no… Continue reading
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Back to school for the OFT?
On 25 October 2012 the Office of Fair Trading announced that it had written to the head teachers of almost 30,000 State schools to draw attention to the high price of school uniforms. The high price is caused in part by 74% of schools requiring parents to purchase uniforms from a single, named retailer or… Continue reading
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Competition law and the National Health Service
On 16 August 2012 the Office of Fair Trading revealed that eight NHS trusts had been engaged in the exchange of commercially sensitive information. The information related to the price each would charge self-paying patients, or patients’ insurers, for treatment in a hospital operated by an NHS trust when that treatment was privately funded. The… Continue reading
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This blog is produced by a group of barristers at Blackstone Chambers and is edited by Tristan Jones, Tom Coates and Flora Robertson.
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COMPETITION BULLETIN 