Category: competition

Bar Conference 2011: barristers ‘ready to strike’ over tendering plan – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted November 11th, 2011 in barristers, competition, criminal justice, news, tenders by sally

“Criminal barristers will take ‘direct action’ – including withdrawing their services – if the government presses ahead with its plans for price-competitive tendering, the chair of the Criminal Bar Association has warned. Max Hill QC (pictured) said that the proposal to introduce best value tendering for the provision of publicly funded services will spell the ‘end of the bar’.”

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Law Society’s Gazette, 10th November 2011

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

OFT proposes increasing maximum fine for anti-competitive behaviour – OUT-LAW.com

Posted November 1st, 2011 in competition, fines, news by sally

“Companies that act anti-competitively should face greater maximum fines, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 31st October 2011

Source: www.out-law.com

Football Association Premier League Ltd and others v QC Leisure and others; Murphy v Media Protection Services Ltd – WLR Daily

Posted October 10th, 2011 in competition, EC law, law reports, licensed premises, licensing, media, sport by sally

Football Association Premier League Ltd and others v QC Leisure and others; Murphy v Media Protection Services Ltd (Joined Cases C-403/08 and C-429/08); [2011] WLR (D) 286

“The clauses of an exclusive licence agreement concluded between a holder of intellectual property rights and a broadcaster constituted a restriction on competition prohibited by article 101FEU of the FEU Treaty where they obliged the broadcaster not to supply decoding devices enabling access to that right holder’s protected subject matter with a view to their use outside the territory covered by that licence agreement.”

WLR Daily, 4th October 2011

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Barristers get green light to take ‘direct action’ – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted September 26th, 2011 in advocacy, barristers, competition, fees, news by sally

“The Bar Council and Criminal Bar Association believe it would be lawful for them to take direct action to protect members’ interests, it has emerged.”

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Law Society’s Gazette, 26th September 2011

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Insurance companies face car insurance probe – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 9th, 2011 in competition, insurance, news by sally

“The OFT has issued what it describes as a ‘call for evidence’ a preliminary step which could lead to a full scale inquiry. It is understood that the watchdog is concerned whether there is genuine competition between the major insurers in the market.”

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Daily Telegraph, 8th September 2011

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

OFT issues fines to companies that exchanged dairy price information – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 10th, 2011 in competition, fines, news, price fixing by sally

“Supermarkets that collaborated in attempting to drive the cost of dairy products up after exchanging price information have been fined by the UK’s competition regulator.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 10th August 2011

Source: www.out-law.com

Ryanair demands £175m from BAA over Stansted charges – Daily Telegraph

Posted July 28th, 2011 in airlines, airports, competition, news by sally

“Ryanair is claiming a £175m rebate from BAA in an escalating row over airline charges at Stansted airport.”

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Daily Telegraph, 28th July 2011

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

BAA must sell Stansted and one other airport – The Independent

Posted July 19th, 2011 in airports, competition, news by sally

“Airport operator BAA must sell two of its UK airports, competition chiefs said today in a final ruling. BAA, which runs six UK airports including Heathrow, will have to sell Stansted followed by either Edinburgh or Glasgow airport, the Competition Commission (CC) said.”

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The Independent, 19th July 2011

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch forced to back down over BSkyB takeover – Daily Telegraph

Posted July 12th, 2011 in competition, media, mergers, news, ombudsmen by sally

“Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, wrote to Ofcom, the media regulator, and the Office of Fair Trading yesterday morning to ask whether the failure of News International, News Corp’s British newspaper arm, to properly manage the News of the World could mean the takeover should be blocked. Hours later, News Corp withdrew its proposal to spin off Sky News as a financially and editorially independent unit, which would have got the merger cleared by regulators, effectively forcing Mr Hunt to refer the bid to the Competition Commission.”

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Daily Telegraph, 11th July 2011

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

National Grid sues for access to engineering cartel papers – The Guardian

Posted July 8th, 2011 in competition, disclosure, news, pleadings by sally

“National Grid is battling in London’s high court for access to secret documents relating to its £235m cartel case against a group of Europe’s top engineering companies.”

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The Guardian, 7th July 2011

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Criminal lawyers will shudder at plans to introduce competition to legal aid – The Guardian

Posted July 8th, 2011 in competition, criminal justice, legal aid, news, tenders by sally

“Tucked away on page 52 of the government’s response to the legal aid green paper were words that would make many criminal lawyers shudder: ‘We intend to consult on detailed proposals for introducing competition in criminal proceedings later in the year.’ ”

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The Guardian, 7th July 2011

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

War of the rose: Rival breweries fight legal battle – The Independent

Posted July 6th, 2011 in competition, news, trade marks by sally

“More than 700 years after the Plantagenet’s death, his floral emblem has become the subject of a struggle as lawyers representing two neighbouring Yorkshire brewers – one large, one small – square up in the High Court to argue their claims over the right to use the symbol in what has been dubbed the civil war of the rose.”

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The Independent, 6th July 2011

Source: www.independent.co.uk

OFT publishes guide on how businesses can comply with competition laws – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 27th, 2011 in company law, competition, news by sally

“UK businesses should identify and change behaviour that may be deemed to be anti-competitive, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 27th June 2011

Source: www.out-law.com

New competition authority will deal with some consumer complaints, says Government – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 22nd, 2011 in competition, complaints, consumer protection, news, unfair commercial practices by sally

“The Government has outlined proposals to give a prospective new competition authority powers to resolve consumer complaints.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 22nd June 2011

Source: www.out-law.com

Pfleiderer AG v Bundeskartellamt – WLR Daily

Posted June 20th, 2011 in competition, disclosure, EC law, evidence, law reports by sally

Pfleiderer AG v Bundeskartellamt (Case C-360/09); [2011] WLR (D) 196

“A person adversely affected by an infringement of European Union competition law was not precluded by the provisions of that law from being granted access to documents relating to the leniency procedure for the purposes of bringing a civil action for damages.”

WLR Daily, 14th June 2011

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Please note that once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

OFT to act on ‘Big Four’ audit firms – Daily Telegraph

Posted May 18th, 2011 in accountants, competition, news, unfair commercial practices by sally

“The ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms are to face regulatory intervention for anti-competitive behaviour, which would severely curb the industry’s most powerful companies and cost them hundreds of millions in revenue.”

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Daily Telegraph, 18th May 2011

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów v Tele2 Polska sp zo o (now Netia SA) – WLR Daily

Posted May 9th, 2011 in competition, EC law, law reports by sally

Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów v Tele2 Polska sp zo o (now Netia SA) Case C-375/09; [2011] WLR (D) 149

“A national competition authority, having examined whether there was an abuse of a dominant position pursuant to its own national law and pursuant to article 102FEU of the FEU Treaty (ex article 82EC of the EC Treaty), was not entitled to take a decision stating that there had been no breach of article 102FEU of the FEU Treaty.”

WLR Daily, 3rd May 2011

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Please note that once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

House of Lords report attacks ‘complacency’ of Big Four auditors in financial crisis, urges competition investigation – Daily Telegraph

Posted March 31st, 2011 in auditors, competition, financial regulation, news, reports by sally

“The House of Lords has recommended that Britain’s competition authorities investigate the world’s ‘Big Four’ auditing firms who failed to warn regulators about banks before the financial crash.”

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Daily Telegraph 30th March 2011

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Telefónica Móviles España SA v Administración del Estado, Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones – WLR Daily

Posted March 25th, 2011 in competition, EC law, fees, law reports, telecommunications by sally

Telefónica Móviles España SA v Administración del Estado, Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones (Case C-85/10);  [2011] WLR (D)  102

“National legislation that provided for a fee to be levied on operators of telecommunications services holding individual licences for the use of radio frequencies, but which did not allocate a specific use to the income derived from that fee, and which significantly increased the fee for a particular technology, was not precluded by article 11(2) of Directive 97/13/EC.”

WLR Daily, 10th March 2011

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Health Bill amounts to ‘abolition’ of NHS, academic warns – Daily Telegraph

Posted March 23rd, 2011 in competition, health, news by sally

“Controversial Government reforms will spell the end of the NHS as it stands, academics warn, as the Health Secretary was forced to reassure MPs that hospitals and doctors would not face accusations of running cartels.”

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Daily Telegraph, 22nd March 2011

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk