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The Secretary of State for
Trade and Industry sets the overall policy framework for
competition, but is only involved in public interest decisions under
the Enterprise Act.
Four main competition bodies have a
locus in the UK market:
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The
Office of Fair
Trading (OFT) exists to make markets work better. Its
powers derive mainly from the Enterprise Act 2002, but some
powers remain from earlier legislation (including the
Competition Act 1998). The OFT addresses anti-competitive
practices and consumer empowerment, by a mix of enforcement and
communication, so benefiting businesses and consumers.
  Memorandum
of Understanding between the Office of Fair Trading and the
Department of Trade and Industry.
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The Competition
Commission conducts in-depth inquiries into mergers,
markets and the regulation of the major regulated industries,
undertaken in response to a reference made by the Secretary of
State for Productivity, Energy and Industry, the Office of Fair Trading or sectoral regulator.
(61
pages). Stakeholder
Survey. The attached report has the results of a survey
of 84 stakeholders of the Competition Commission in which they
give views on the importance of the work of the Commission and
its performance.
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The
Competition Appeal
Tribunal
(CAT). The CAT is a specialist judicial body with
cross-disciplinary expertise in law, economics, business and
accountancy. Under United Kingdom law, the function of the CAT
is to hear and decide appeals and other applications or claims
involving competition or economic regulatory issues.
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The European
Commission (Directorate General for Competition) has
exclusive powers to act on certain large mergers with a European
dimension. It also has powers to deal with restrictive
agreements and anti-competitive practices when trade between
members of the European Community, or in some cases the European
Economic Area (EEA), is affected.
In addition a number of Sectoral
Regulators (utility regulators and others) have a specific role
to play in promoting or facilitating competition within their
sectors. Some of these regulators also have the power to apply the
Competition Act 1998 concurrently with the OFT. These regulators
with such 'concurrent
powers' are:
- Ofgem
- in the energy markets
- Ofwat
- in the water industry
- Ofcom
- in the communications sector
- ORR
- for railway services
- CAA
- in relation to air traffic services
- Ofreg
- for gas and electricity in Northern Ireland
DTI and HM Treasury jointly take the lead in
formulating economic regulation policy and ensuring the regulatory
framework is fit for purpose. Papers from the DTI Economic
Regulation Team can be found here.
| Concurrent Powers (Competition
Act 1998) |
A number of sectoral
regulators have powers to apply the Competition Act concurrently
with the OFT. These regulators have all
the powers of the OFT to apply and
enforce the Act to deal with anti-competitive agreements or abuse of
market dominance relating to relevant activities in their designated
sector. The OFT alone, however, has
powers to issue guidance on penalties and to make and amend the Procedural Rules. The Competition
Act 1998 (Concurrency) Regulations 2000 have been made for the
purpose of coordinating the exercise of the concurrent powers and
the procedures to be followed.
Further information
| Making
a complaint
If you believe a company or
group of companies are acting anti-competitively, then you may
wish to consider making a complaint to the Office of Fair
Trading (OFT).
They have set up a special
hotline and email address for complaints under the new
Competition Act.
Competition Act Enquiry Line: 08457
22 44 99
e-mail enquiries: enquiries.competitionact@oft.gov.uk
The OFT have produced a 6
page booklet "Making a Complaint". This gives
examples of behaviour which may indicate that a company is
breaching the Competition Act. It gives information on what to
do in order to complain. This booklet is available online as a
PDF
File.
There is also a detailed 'how
to complain' section on the OFT website. |
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