News
As you may be aware, the Scottish Competition Law Forum’s April event looked at the topical issue of devolving competition competences and at some of the pros and cons of different approaches taken in various jurisdictions. For further details of the discussion in April please see: the attached file “spring discussion note”. Since the April event, the SCLF steering committee have been looking at ways in which to provide Government with an insight into the views and experiences of our members and contributors.
To take this forward and to offer a substantial contribution to the current Scottish constitutional debate we wish now to canvass your views on a range of key questions which we have identified as coming out of the April event. For our questionaire please see the attached file. We aim to prepare a discussion paper reflecting (in a non-attributable manner) the responses to these questions and to submit this to Government (in particular the Scottish Government and the Calman Commission) for consideration.
Please provide us with your responses, addressed to Gordon Downie, by no later than Monday 25 August 2008. If there are any other queries regarding the questionnaire, please do not hesitate to let us know via the same email address.
July 14th, 2008
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Competition in the professions is the subject of considerable debate and development at European and national levels. The summer SCLF event, hosted by the Faculty of Advocates, will give an opportunity to examine, across a range of professions, issues such as:
- Competing considerations of safeguarding ethics and introducing liberalisation; and
- The role and limits of self regulation.
With speakers from law, medicine and accountancy, and from the European Commission, we will have a full agenda for discussion which will also be relevant to many other sectors.
Programme:
17:15 - Registration
17:30 - Welcome from Richard Keen QC, Faculty of Advocates
17:35 - Introduction by the chairperson, Karina McTeague (Lloyds TSB)
17:45 - Presentation by John Madill (European Commission)
18:05 - Question and answer session
18:15 - Panel discussion with Richard Keen QC, Janet Hamblin (Baker Tilley), Dr John Garner (former chair of BMA Scottish Council), Frank Stephen (University of Manchester)(TBC) and Sarah O’Neill (SCC)
19:15 - Wine reception
20:00 - Close
The event is taking place at The Mackenzie Building, Old Assembly Close, 172 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QX.
If you have not already signed up and are interested in attending, please contact Dawn Hendry (dawn.hendry@shepwedd.co.uk).
June 9th, 2008
Competition in the professions is the subject of considerable debate and development at European and national levels. This event will give an opportunity to examine key issues in this area across a range of professions. Speakers include John Madill (European Commission), Richard Keen QC (Faculty of Advocates), Karina McTeague (Lloyds TSB) and representatives from medicine and accountancy.
Date/time: 17 June 2008, 17.15 - 20.00
Venue: The Mackenzie Building, Old Assembly Close, 172 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QX
Link to the flyer for this event
To register please contact: dawn.hendry@shepwedd.co.uk
May 21st, 2008
11 April 2008
Please see below the programme for the SCLF Spring meeting, which takes place this Friday (11 April) at the Court Senate Suite, Strathclyde University, 22 Richmond Street, Glasgow. Please note the discussion will start at 09.10.
As you will see we have an impressive range of speakers from far and wide, with chairman Iain McMillan of CBI Scotland keeping our focus on the practical rather than political. Our job is to unpick the experiences of competition and consumer protection bodies working in central/reserved roles and in devolved contexts to discover what arrangements may best contribute to the economic success of Scotland. We look forward to a rich and stimulating discussion of significant issues not regularly appearing in other conversations or commissions.
For those already signed up, we look forward to seeing you there. If you are still thinking about it and have not yet registered, don’t delay in emailing ashley.e.smith@strath.ac.uk to secure your place.
Programme
09:00 Registration
09:10 Welcome from Barry Rodger, University of Strathclyde
09:15 Introduction by the Chairman, Iain McMillan, Director of CBI Scotland
09:25 Presentation by John Fingleton, Chief Executive of the OFT
09:45 Presentation by Cristina Pellise de Urquiza, member of the Catalan Competition Tribunal
10:05 Presentation by Eleanor Gill, Chief Executive of the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland
10:25 Tea/Coffee
10:45 Panel discussion with Fod Barnes (Oxera Consulting), Martyn Evans (Director of the Scottish Consumer Council), Catriona Munro (Partner, Maclay Murray & Spens) and our principal speakers
11:45 Close
If you have any queries about the event please contact Dawn Hendry at dawn.hendry@shepwedd.co.uk
April 8th, 2008
On 24 January 2008, the Scottish Competition Law Forum celebrated its second anniversary gathering at the prestigious 29 Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow.
Kyla Brand from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) commenced proceedings for the evening by welcoming the guests, providing an overview of the year and thanking all the members for their support and participation throughout 2007. In particular, Kyla noted the strength of the forum in its second year and the popularity of the anniversary dinner.
Peter Willis, a partner at Dundas and Wilson, took to the floor and provided an interesting insight into the value of the SCLF from the perspective of a member. Mr Willis commended the diversity of the forum together with the high calibre of speakers and debate at each of the 2007 events. Gordon Downie, the Forum’s convenor, closed the introductory section of the evening by outlining the proposed 2008 programme of events.
Professor Barry Rodger from Strathclyde University then provided a warm and entertaining introduction to the “competition law guru”, Professor Richard Whish, outlining his extensive list of achievements, before the evening’s first speaker took to the floor.
In his address Professor Whish indicated that, while he is also a Professor at Kings College London, he intended to focus his address on his work as non-executive director of the OFT.
Professor Whish commented, that while during the early years of the Competition Act, there was less activity than anticipated, 2007 has shown the OFT’s strong commitment to enforcement. In particular, Professor Whish noted the hefty fines handed down in the British Airways and Dairy cases and the importance of the settlement procedure for the future of the OFT. Professor Whish also noted the continuing marine hoses and construction cartel cases, emphasising the extent of the OFT’s power’s and their readiness to use them.
While the OFT has been very active in terms of Article 81/ Chapter 1 cases, Professor Whish highlighted that there has been a lack of enforcement in terms of Article 82/ Chapter 2. In response to this he made a call for good abuse of dominance cases to be brought to the OFT’s attention. The OFT’s prioritisation criteria were also highlighted, together with the importance of selecting the right cases and investigating them to conclusion in order to ensure optimum efficiency. In addition, Professor Whish stressed the important role of sector inquiries in relation to ensuring markets work well for consumers.
Professor Whish concluded his address by considering the work of the OFT in Scotland, referring to the Claymore Dairy cartel, the Aberdeen Journals abuse of dominance case and the super complaint into the Scottish Legal Profession. Again, he acknowledged the importance of market investigations, with the BAA inquiry being recognized for its significance in Scotland, and reminded his audience of the Competition Commission’s powers of divestiture.
The evening continued upstairs with more lively discussion over dinner, followed by a dynamic introduction to the evening’s after dinner speaker by the former European Court of Justice judge Sir David Edward. Sir Edward had a threefold message for the evening’s guests: first, the need to stress the importance of competition law to colleagues; second, the need to separate the investigative and decision making bodies of the European Commission; and third, questioning the function of lawyers with regard to legal privilege. Sir Edward then handed over to the “outstanding practitioner of Community Law”, Paul Lasok QC.
Mr Lasok provided the guests with an animated overview of his experience as a competition law Barrister, and delivered entertaining anecdotes about the role of the loquacious client and the true importance of the economic expert. Mr Lasok brought the evening to a close by offering a colourful insight into the attitude of the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg to problems of confidentiality and the rule of law in competition cases.
The evening was kindly sponsored by Dundas & Wilson LLP and the Office of Fair Trading and organised by the SCLF’s planning committee comprising of Kyla Brand from the Office of Fair Trading, Professor Barry Rodger of Strathclyde University and Gordon Downie and Dawn Hendry, both from Shepherd and Wedderburn.
February 11th, 2008
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