Competition Appeal Tribunal and Competition Service

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Friday 7th November 2014 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Jo Swinson)]

The triennial review of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and the Competition Service (CS) commenced on 21 August 2013 and I am now pleased to announce the completion of the review.

The CAT was established by the Enterprise Act 2002, which came into force on 1 April 2003, to hear appeals against certain decisions of the UK competition authorities and economics regulators. It is a specialist body with cross-disciplinary expertise in law, economics, business and accountancy. The Enterprise Act 2002 also created the Competition Service: a body corporate and executive non-departmental public body whose purpose is to fund and provide administrative and legal support services to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

The review has concluded that the CAT has a vital role to play in determining regulatory and competition appeals, which have important consequences for the wider economy and the Government’s growth agenda; and should therefore remain as a specialist tribunal NDPB.

The review also concludes that the functions performed by the Competition Service should be retained but should be merged with those of the CAT to form a single body, a specialist tribunal NDPB with its own support functions. The merger should be taken forward as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Stage 2 of the review examined the governance arrangements for both the CAT and the CS to assess compliance with statutory accountabilities and confirm that appropriate governance arrangements were in place. The review concluded that overall compliance with recognised principles of good corporate governance was good and should be rated green. However, the review also identified a number of recommendations to improve how the governance functions will operate in the context of the new merged body.

The full report of the review of the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Competition Service can be found at: https://www.gov.uk website and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.