Biggart Baillie LLP

Both EU and UK Competition Law can have an impact on many aspects of the day-to-day activities of a business. Issues can arise during the conclusion of commercial agreements, the acquisition of another business or in the creation and implementation of distribution policies. This area of law has become all the more relevant as a result of the new increased powers of the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) and its ability to carry out dawn raids under the Competition Act 1998 coupled with the risk of fines and imprisonment. Our team can advise you on the following areas: 1. Ensuring that the relevant competition law is complied with when concluding commercial agreements. This includes ensuring that any restrictive covenants are going to be enforceable. 2. How to obtain merger clearances from both the OFT and the European Commission. 3. How to make a complaint to the OFT, particularly if you are on the receiving end of bully boy tactics by a company with a monopoly position in the market. The team is currently advising a number of clients being investigated by the OFT under the Competition Act and this has included attending “dawn raids” by the OFT and advising throughout the relevant investigations. We also regularly provide competition compliance programmes to clients involving both training and preparation of any documentation.