Tesco scores partial victory in cheese cartel – Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers

Posted December 21st, 2012 in competition, food, news, price fixing by tracey

“In a judgment handed down this afternoon, the Competition Appeal Tribunal largely upheld Tesco’s appeal against the OFT’s decision that it had participated in unlawful agreements relating to the price of cheese: see Tesco Stores Ltd v Office of Fair Trading [2012] CAT 31.”

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Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers, 21st December 2012

Source: www.competitionbulletin.com

Competition law and the National Health Service – Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers

Posted October 9th, 2012 in competition, health, news, price fixing by sally

“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 file was closed when the OFT received assurances that the information exchange had ceased and that the parties would provide their staff with training on competition law compliance.”

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Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers, 8th October 2012

Source: www.competitionbulletin.com

BA fuel surcharge fine halved by OFT – The Guardian

Posted April 19th, 2012 in airlines, consumer protection, fines, news, price fixing by tracey

“The Office of Fair Trading has more than halved a £121.5m fine levied against British Airways for colluding with Virgin Atlantic in a fuel surcharge scam. The consumer watchdog reduced the fine to £58.5m to reflect new guidelines for financial sanctions and BA’s co-operation with the inquiry. Virgin Atlantic escaped any penalty because it blew the whistle on the collusion over setting fuel surcharges between 2004 and 2006.”

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The Guardian, 19th April 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Tribunal hands down key privilege ruling in OFT dairy pricing case – Legal Week

Posted March 26th, 2012 in competition, news, price fixing, privilege, tribunals by sally

“The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has held that confidentiality under litigation privilege applies to Competition Act investigations, in a key ruling in the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT’s) long-running investigation into dairy retail pricing.”

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Legal Week, 26th March 2012

Source: www.legalweek.com

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

Court of Appeal dismisses US-style class action bid – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted November 26th, 2010 in airlines, class actions, news, price fixing by sally

“The Court of Appeal has dismissed an attempt to bring a US-style class action against British Airways for participating in an airfreight price-fixing cartel, just nine days after the European Commission (EC) fined the airline more than €100m (£85m) for its role in the cartel and told claimants that they could seek damages in national courts.”

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Law Society’s Gazette, 25th November 2010

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Emerald Supplies Ltd and another v British Airways plc – WLR Daily

Emerald Supplies Ltd and another v British Airways plc [2010] EWCA Civ 1284; [2010] WLR (D) 294

“For a case to fall within CPR r 19.6, a claimant who had brought a representative action on behalf of the claimant and other representative claimants had to show at all stages of the proceedings that the interest of the claimant and all potential represented claimants was same.”

WLR Daily, 19th November 2010

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

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

Drug companies ‘exploit legal loophole’ – Daily Telegraph

Posted November 17th, 2010 in medicines, news, price fixing by sally

“Senior doctors have written to David Cameron calling for action over a legal loophole that enables drug companies to set ‘exorbitant prices’ for drugs to treat rare diseases.”

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Daily Telegraph, 17th November 2010

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

OFT launches online hotel booking probe – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 24th, 2010 in competition, hotels, internet, news, price fixing by sally

“The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating whether the sale of hotel room bookings on the internet breaches competition law, looking into whether an allegedly long-established pricing mechanism is anti-competitive.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 20th September 2010

Source: www.out-law.com

Regina v George and others – WLR Daily

Posted June 15th, 2010 in airlines, appeals, conspiracy, law reports, price fixing by sally

Regina v George and others [2010] EWCA Crim 1148; [2010] WLR (D) 147

“Where a statute imposed criminal liability on an individual who dishonestly agreed with one or more other people to do a prohibited act, the intention and purpose was to criminalise that individual, regardless of whether those other persons were also dishonest.”

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WLR Daily, 14th June 2010

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

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

OFT under fire over whistleblowers after BA price-fixing trial fails – The Guardian

Posted May 12th, 2010 in airlines, news, price fixing, whistleblowers by sally

“The consumer watchdog’s reliance on whistleblowers as the bedrock of anti-cartel cases is under scrutiny following the embarrassing collapse of the British Airways price-fixing trial. Legal experts warned that offering immunity in exchange for full co-operation with an investigation threatened to undermine Office of Fair Trading prosecutions by giving whistleblowers influence over evidence gathering and fostering complacency among investigators.”

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The Guardian, 12th May 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

BA price-fixing trial collapses – The Guardian

Posted May 10th, 2010 in airlines, news, price fixing by sally

“Serious and significant failings by the Office of Fair Trading led to the collapse of the trial of senior British Airways executives over allegations of price-fixing with Virgin Atlantic.”

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The Guardian, 10th May 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

OFT drops Tesco price-fixing claims – The Guardian

Posted April 30th, 2010 in fines, food, news, price fixing by sally

“The competition watchdog has said it is dropping some allegations of price fixing against Tesco as part of a dairy investigation that has seen rival firms handed fines of around £70 million.”

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The Guardian, 30th April 2010

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Ex-businessman Ian Norris to be extradited to US – BBC News

Posted February 24th, 2010 in appeals, extradition, news, price fixing by sally

“A former industry boss has lost a Supreme Court appeal in his battle to avoid extradition from the UK to the US over obstructing justice allegations.”

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BBC News, 24th February 2010

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Safeway proceeds with groundbreaking attempt to sue ex-employees for price fixing – OUT-LAW.com

Posted January 26th, 2010 in company directors, competition, news, price fixing by sally

“Safeway has been given permission to continue a groundbreaking lawsuit against former employees and directors which seeks to recover competition law fines from the ex-employees and directors involved in the breaches.”

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OUT-LAW.com, 22nd January 2010

Source: www.out-law.com

Regina v IB – WLR Daily

Posted December 10th, 2009 in competition, Crown Court, EC law, jurisdiction, law reports, price fixing by sally

Regina v IB  [2009] EWCA Crim 2575; [2009] WLR (D) 357

“A ‘cartel offence’ under s 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002 was not a ‘national competition law’ within the meaning of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, so that a Crown Court had jurisdiction to try a prosecution for such an offence although it was not a competition authority designated under art 35 of that Regulation.”

WLR Daily, 10th December 2009

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

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

Serious Fraud Office investigates JJB and Sports Direct for suspected price fixing – The Guardian

Posted September 10th, 2009 in fraud, news, price fixing by sally

“The Serious Fraud Office is investigating suspected criminal price fixing and fraud at Britain’s two largest sports retailers – JJB and Sports Direct.”

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The Guardian, 10th September 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

R v Goldshield Group plc and others – WLR Daily

Posted December 17th, 2008 in conspiracy, fraud, indictments, law reports, price fixing by sally

R v Goldshield Group plc and others [2008] UKHL 17; [2008] WLR (D) 388

An allegation of price fixing carried out in circumstances of secretive and deceptive behaviour was insufficient of itself to found a charge of conspiracy to defraud. It was necessary to isolate and charge specific aggravating elements which would elevate price fixing into an indictable conspiracy to defraud.”

WLR Daily, 16th December 2008

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

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


Drug companies celebrate collapse of price-fixing case – The Times

Posted December 4th, 2008 in medicines, news, price fixing by sally

“The Serious Fraud Office suffered a huge defeat yesterday with the collapse of its £25 million, six-year investigation into alleged price fixing among drug manufacturers.”

Full story

The Times, 4th December 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Regina v Whittle; Regina v Allison; Regina v Brammar – Times Law Reports

Posted November 27th, 2008 in law reports, plea bargaining, price fixing, sentencing by sally

Regina v Whittle; Regina v Allison; Regina v Brammar

Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)

“Minimum sentences agreed by United Kingdom employees admitting cartel offences in a plea agreement with the United States authorities and substituted on appeal were not to be treated as guidelines.”

The Times, 27th November 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.