News and Press
OFT issues competition advice under new process

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched a new process which it hopes will provide prompt and effective advice to companies on competition matters. This new procedure, the Short-form Opinion, is intended to address concerns that some forms of legitimate and beneficial collaboration between companies are not going ahead for fear of infringing competition law and incurring possible civil and criminal sanctions. The Short-form Opinions cannot prejudge assessment by European authorities, national courts or even the OFT itself, but should constitute a useful resource for companies exploring collaborative ventures with market competitors.

Competition experts at TLT comment: "The OFT's proposal to provide Short-form Opinions is to be welcomed, however, the Short-form Opinion process will apply only to a very small number of innovative new arrangements. It remains important for firms to assess all forms of collaboration between them to ensure they do not infringe competition law. The penalties for an infringement include fines of up to 10% of worldwide group turnover, director disqualification and in the most serious cases, a custodial sentence of up to five years".

To read more about the OFT's new process, please see Related information.