The judgment has important implications for the competition law compliance responsibilities of company directors.

John Colahan and Peter Citron

On 3 July 2020, the High Court disqualified[1] Michael Martin from acting as a director for seven years. The court found that Mr Martin had contributed to a breach of competition law by his former company, which owned and ran an estate agency (Berryman’s) in Burnham-on-Sea. This finding was made despite the fact that Mr Martin was not concerned with day-to-day sales, had not attended any of the meetings with the other estate agents where the competition law infringement had taken place, and had taken some steps following the inspection of the company by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) including the obtaining of legal advice that led to compliance actions.

The CAT’s specific disclosure ruling addresses the use of licensing to support anticompetitive behaviour.

By John D. Colahan and Calum M. Warren

On 2 March 2018, the Chairman of the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) granted an application for further specific disclosure in Peugeot S.A. and others v NSK Ltd and others. The disclosure relates to certain licensing arrangements claimed as central to the claimants’ action for damages arising out of anticompetitive practices, for which the European Commission (Commission) fined the defendants in March 2014. The ruling highlights the potential misuse of licensing arrangements to support anticompetitive behaviour, and is a timely reminder of the need for caution when dealing with counterparties in licensing arrangements.

In February 2016, the claimants — Peugeot S.A. and 18 other companies within the Peugeot Citroën group — brought an action for damages before the CAT. The claim was a so-called “follow-on” action based on a Commission decision of 14 March 2014. The defendants — competing suppliers of components to automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) known as automotive bearings — were found to have coordinated pricing strategy in relation to automotive OEMs in the EEA, and received fines totalling approximately €953 million. In particular, the defendants were found to have coordinated their responses to customers’ (including the claimants’) requests for quotations (RFQ), including which undertakings would submit a quote to a given RFQ.