A number of provisions of the Enterprise Act, principally relating to institutional reform, came into force today, and the commencement date for the other provisions has been set for 20 June 2003.

OFT Board

As of 1 April 2003 the OFT is a corporate body and the role of Director General of Fair Trading (DGFT) no longer exists. The functions of the DGFT have been transferred to the OFT. The OFT Board takes over the strategic direction of the OFT and will be responsible for overall strategic direction, priorities, plans and performance. The Board has six members: John Vickers (formerly Director General of Fair Trading) is the Chairman and Penny Boys (formerly Deputy Director General of Fair Trading) the Executive Director. The other four non-executive members are Richard Whish, Rosalind Wright, Lord Blackwell and Christine Farnish.

Competition Appeal Tribunal and Competition Service

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) is created together with the Competition Service to support it. The Service employs staff formerly employed by the Competition Commission. Previously both the Competition Commission’s inquiry panels (which investigate mergers and markets in general) and appeals tribunals (which heard appeals from OFT decisions under the Competition Act) were supported by the staff of the Competition Commission. This arrangement is no longer considered appropriate because the CAT will be able to review decisions made by the Competition Commission (for example decisions on mergers). At this stage the CAT will take on the role of the Competition Commission Appeal Tribunals.

Repeal of Schedule 4 of the Competition Act 1998

Schedule 4 of the Competition Act 1998 has been repealed. This created a special regime dis-applying the Chapter I prohibition on anti-competitive agreements and practices to the professional rules of those bodies that applied for designation of their rules under the Act. In practice this had never been used.

Consumer Codes of Conduct

The OFT has been given new powers to approve consumer codes of conduct. The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has also been given a new power to provide financial assistance for consumer purposes.

The remaining competition and consumer provisions of the Enterprise Act, including mergers, market investigations, the criminal cartel offence, director’s disqualification and consumer enforcement will commence on 20 June 2003.

For more details on the Enterprise Act click here

Article by Dorothy Livingston, James Quinney and Kristien Geeurickx

© Herbert Smith 2003

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