Access to Evidence in UK Merger Inquiries and Market Investigations: A Critical Commentary

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Series Details Volume 10, Number 2, Pages 279-310
Publication Date May 2015
ISSN 1744-1056
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Introduction:
"This article critically assesses the practice of the UK Competition Commission (the CC) in second-phase merger inquiries and market investigations under the Enterprise Act 2002. The CC’s practice, which the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has said it will follow, was generally not to give parties direct access to evidence, but instead to provide only the “gist” of evidence in a way that, in the view of these authors, went beyond any reasonable need to protect confidentiality and was inconsistent with companies’ rights of defence."
"This article compares the CC’s practice in merger inquiries and market investigations with that of the European Commission and the OFT. It recommends that the CMA use the occasion of its creation to jettison the
CC’s restrictive approach towards access rights to evidence and, in its place, adopt a consistent approach across all areas of competition law enforcement in the UK. By granting parties comprehensive access to all relevant evidence in all antitrust investigations, including merger inquiries and market investigations, the CMA would address criticism of the CC’s historic practice, give parties similar access rights in respect of both Competition Act 1998 and Enterprise Act 2002 investigations, and conform the CMA’s own practice with that of most other leading antitrust agencies around the world, where parties to antitrust investigations receive complete and timely access to the entire body of available evidence."
Source Link https://doi.org/10.5235/17441056.10.2.279
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