Market report: competition
The In-House Lawyer spoke to practitioners – from both in-house and private practice – to understand which trends and developments had caught their attention in the competition practice area.
Mark Friend, partner and head of the London antitrust group at Allen & Overy, argues competition law in the UK is ‘currently at a crossroads’ and cites the current political climate and comments made by the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) former chairman, Lord Tyrie. ‘This crossroads is partly driven by Brexit, and what that will mean to the CMA and future enforcement priorities, but also partly driven by this feeling among some policy makers that competition law may not be working properly, or is not adequately protecting all consumers.’
This feeling was crystallised in a February 2019 letter sent to Greg Clark MP, then Secretary of State, by Lord Tyrie, whose central argument was that the UK has an ‘analogue system of competition and consumer law in a digital age’. Benedict Bleicher, senior counsel, litigation and competition at Rio Tinto, elaborates, stating ‘the competition law toolkit that exists is based more on traditional industries, and hasn’t really been revised for the current age. For example, rapid interventions can be required in tech markets to act against tipping effects or prevent killer acquisitions – these are not easily caught in time’.
