Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2012] All ER (D) 168 (May)
Neutral Citation: [2012] EWCA Civ 643
Court: Court of Appeal, Civil Division
Judge:

Sir Andrew Morritt C, Hughes and McFarlane LJJ
Representation Lord Pannick QC and Brian Kennelly (instructed by Covington & Burling LLP) for the claimant.
  Daniel Beard QC and Julian Gregory (instructed by the General Counsel, the Office of Fair Trading) for the OFT.
  James Flynn QC, Kelyn Bacon and Daniel Piccinin (instructed by Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP and Linklaters LLP) for Aer Lingus.
Judgment Dates: 22 May 2012

Catchwords

Competition - Merger - Substantial lessening of competition - Claimant airline seeking to purchase share capital in second respondent airline - European Court of Justice determining acquisition prohibited - First respondent Office of Fair Trading seeking to refer acquisition to Competition Commission - Claimant submitting OFT time-barred to referring matter - OFT contending time limit preserved pending final ruling by ECJ - Claimant seeking declaration from Competition Appeal Tribunal - Tribunal declaring OFT required to comply with duty of sincere co-operation and avoid risk of impermissible conflict of decision - Tribunal finding time limit preserved - Whether tribunal erring - Council Regulation (EC) 139/2004, arts 4, 8(3), 21(3) - , , .

The Case

Competition Merger. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, upheld a determination that the time period by which the Office of Fair Trading had been entitled to refer a matter to the Competition Commission under of the Enterprise Act 2002, had been preserved during the period in which the proposed acquisition by the claimant had been determined by the European Union merger control process.

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