On 17 February 2020, the CAT refused Tobii’s application to appeal the CAT’s judgment of 10 January 2020, which upheld
Europcar UK Limited and Others v Mastercard Inc. and Others
On 31 January 2020, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) stayed a claim for damages brought by Europcar against
Tobii AV v Competition and Markets Authority (January 2020)
On 10 January 2020, the CAT handed down its judgment on Tobii’s appeal of the CMA’s SLC decision and order requiring the full divestiture of Smartbox.
2019 Reveiw
CMA Activity
In 2019, the CMA devoted considerable resources to preparing for the UK’s exit from the EU. It carried out a consultation and published guidance on the functions of the CMA after a ‘no deal’ exit from the EU. In anticipation of its increased workload, it recruited additional staff at all seniority levels and completed its move to new premises in Canary Wharf. It also increased its focus on digital markets and took a less permissive approach to gun-jumping and failures to provide full responses to formal requests for information.
R (on behalf of British Gas Trading Limited) v The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority
On 13 November 2019, the High Court upheld a judicial review challenge to Ofgem’s decision on the implementation of a tariff cap and the calculation of the wholesale energy cost allowance for the first period of the price cap (Q1 2019). The CMA investigated the energy supply market in June 2016 and concluded that there was ineffective competition in the energy supply market, which had resulted in higher default tariffs being charged to customers.
The CAT Allows CityFibre and BT Intervention In CAT Appeal by TalkTalk and Vodafone
On 17 October 2019, the CAT allowed interventions by CityFibre and British Telecommunications (BT) in the appeal by TalkTalk Telecom
CMA v Flynn Pharma Ltd and Others
On 4 October 2019, the Court of Appeal granted the CMA permission to amend its grounds of appeal in a landmark case concerning excessive pricing in the supply of phenytoin sodium capsules, a medicine used to control epileptic seizures.
A Farewell to Arms? Compensating Victims of Anti-competitive Conduct Without Litigation
On 3 October 2019, the CMA accepted commitments ending part of a two-year investigation into Aspen, a pharmaceutical producer.[1] These commitments include an undertaking never previously employed by the CMA to compensate victims of the alleged anti-competitive conduct without the need for private enforcement. The investigation is ongoing in respect of market sharing agreements that the CMA alleges Aspen has entered into with Tiofarma and Amilco.
JD Sports Fashion plc/Footasylum plc.
On 1 October 2019, the CMA announced that it had referred JD Sports’ completed acquisition of Footasylum for an in-depth
CMA’s Increasing Enforcement Of Document Requests In Merger Review
There is a global trend of increasingly burdensome demands by competition authorities conducting merger review for the submission of merging parties’ internal documents, and the CMA is no exception. In recent months the CMA has also taken greater steps to enforce such requests, in particular by fining companies for failing to comply with formal requests for documents under Section 109 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (“Section 109 Notices”).